The Fairtrade Foundation’s Big Idea this year is to hold what it calls ‘The Big Swap’: it wants one million and one people to join it in switching the regular, non-Fairtrade items in their shopping baskets, such as wine, sugar, or oranges for Fairtrade wine, sugar or oranges. Each swap will be proof that the UK wants developing world producers to get a better deal, organisers say.
The fortnight-long campaign comes 15 years after the first products bearing the Fairtrade mark hit the shelves: in 1994, Green & Black’s Maya Gold chocolate, Cafédirect medium roast coffee and three varieties of Clipper tea were the first goods sold in the UK to carry the mark. Today, there are more than 4,500 Fairtrade-certified products available, including cotton clothing, bananas, wines, ice-cream and cosmetics which come from 58 developing countries all around the world.
Going Bananas Since 2000
Since launching in 2000, Fairtrade bananas now account for 1 in 4 bananas sold in the UK. The Fairtrade premium - an additional sum for community development - is used by farmers’ groups for many community projects, for example, building schools and medical clinics, providing clean drinking water and to pilot organic conversion schemes to help farmers work for the future.
Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation told the British media: "Fifteen years ago our dedicated campaigners told us of the excitement they felt when the first Fairtrade products appeared in their local shops. Now we are calling on people to help us re-create that early excitement by encouraging everyone to fill their whole shopping basket with products from the Fairtrade ranges."
The Foundation has cause to celebrate at the moment: the UK government is to provide £12 million (CDN$17.8 million) over the next fours in funding to both Fairtrade and its international partners in the Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) in order to boost the work it undertakes to support farmers in developing countries to access better terms of trade in global markets.
“Fairtrade products are already a big part of life in the UK, with new products appearing on our shelves every day. Our £12m funding will help improve this even further,’ says Douglas Alexander, UK Secretary of State for International Development.
“These are exciting times for the Fairtrade Mark. Sales in 2008 rose by 43% in the UK and 22% globally, helping more farmers and workers in the world's poorest countries to make a decent living’.
UK Leads Way In Fairtrade Purchasing
The UK currently leads the way in buying Fairtrade products. Recognition of the Fairtrade Mark, in a survey conducted in September, 2009 rose to an all-time high of 72%, and recent TNS research of 25,000 households showed that, despite a tougher economic climate, consumers are actually spending more on Fairtrade products than ever before.
The UK Government investment is part of an international donor consortium funding package including funds from Irish Aid and the Swiss Government. The aid has the key aims of doubling the number of Fairtrade farmers to 2.2 million; a more than doubling of Fairtrade premiums going back to producers to invest in their own community development projects, to reach in excess of €100 million (CDN$148.5m) per year; a three-fold increase in the global sales of Fairtrade certified products, aiming to reach a value of €9.8 billion (CDN$14.6bn) by 2014.
“The announcement is very timely on this fifteenth anniversary and is a fitting tribute to how innovative producers, campaigners and businesses have created the most dynamic movement for better, fairer trade,” said Lamb.
Fairtrade’s Positive Impact
A recent analysis of published material on the impact of Fairtrade by the Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, London found that there is a growing body of evidence of the positive impact of Fairtrade for producers in the developing world, from direct and indirect economic benefits through to improving community services as well as its role in strengthening farmers’ organisations, so that they in turn can provide more services to members and help them survive in difficult times, says the Foundation.
In the UK, Fairtrade has sought to work with corporate purchasers to boost the Foundation’s profile. Given the ethical nature of the products, and the premium prices they attract, many are sold by church and social groups.
When Fairtrade activity reaches a certain point, the Foundation awards Fairtrade status to a town. The first, ten years ago, was Garstang in Lancashire. Now there are more than 450 towns. There are also 100 Fairtrade universities, 3,000 schools, more than 5,000 Fairtrade churches, 40 Fairtrade synagogues and one mosque.
Fairtrade is not without its critics: but for those who believe in trade rather than aid for developing economies, Fairtrade offers a viable and transparent means of support for those who need it.
James Graham - I have been a professional journalist since the 1980s. I started on weekly newspapers in the English Midlands - working intially on one of ...
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