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28 June 2009
Posted in
Feeling Warm and Dry This Winter
We talked a bit about Fair Trade above in Let’s Talk Turkey: Misconceptions RE Local, Green, Organic & Fair Trade. But what does it really mean if a product is Fair Trade?
What are we supporting when we elect to buy these products, or not? And where can we get them? And which products are available as Fair Trade in Halifax?
Most people think of coffee or chocolate. But there are many other Fair Trade products available in Halifax such as tea, bananas, baking goods (ie: brown sugar, icing sugar) and more. Ask for them where you shop.
We’ll talk more about these and where you can buy them next time. Given our winter theme, we’re going to stick to warming you up with Fair Trade coffee and chocolate for Valentine’s Day for now.
a. Fair Trade: Why?
In the not too distant past, women could not vote or work in certain fields. When foreigners arrived, they concealed their heritage or changed their names to obtain employment. And tragically, people were enslaved because of the colour of their skin. Nowadays, women achieve things at one time they never dreamed possible; cultural differences are celebrated as we expand our global community; and just recently, a nation, and much of the world, beamed with pride as the US elected their first black president.
Fortunately, society has shed many mistaken ideologies and made progress regarding equality and fairness. But there is still a long way to go. So what can you do to help promote fairness and equality? For starters, you can select Fair Trade products. Allow us to summarise a few facts for you from “The Bitter Side of Coffee and Chocolate” taken from the World Vision Australia website (www.worldvision.com.au). However, be forewarned, if you read on, you may never want to buy anything but Fair Trade Coffee and Chocolate again:
For Coffee:
- What it costs:
- Global prices of coffee and cocoa beans have fallen. (ie: what farmers get)
- Retail prices, especially for coffee, have risen. (ie: what you pay)
- Profits for middlemen, are large (ie: those who buy the beans, the exporters, etc…) since the NY Coffee Exchange sets the price.
- What they get:
- Approx. 3 cents from a $3 cappuccino goes to the farmer who grew the beans.
- For many farmers in poor countries, these products are essential to their survival, and they can not cover production costs.
- The resulting atrocity:
- Often children, young as 8 or 9 yrs old, will be forced to work on plantation to help increase crop production.
- It is predicted to affect 125 million people, who may already live below the poverty level, through unemployment, hunger and migration.
For Chocolate:
- Where it’s farmed and what it costs:
- West Africa's cocoa region produces 70 percent of the world's cocoa
- The price of raw cocoa has fallen, resulting in labour being cut to make enough from their crops.
- What’s happening:
- Over 284,000 children work in hazardous conditions involving spraying pesticides, using machetes and carrying heavy loads.
- They have no access to education or health care.
- The resulting atrocity:
- This labor-cutting trend has been linked to the re-emergence of slave labour.
- Over 15,000 children are suspected to have been sold into forced labour on northern Ivory Coast plantations in recent years.
- Physical abuse is common.
- These children are mostly under 14 yrs old
The situation is so serious that in 2002, an International Cocoa Initiative was launched to bring the international chocolate industry, aid agencies and corporate stakeholders together over the issue. Global trading reform is needed and much work still needs to be done.
So as Valentine’s Day approaches, if you are buying coffee or chocolate or other products for which you have an opportunity to buy Fair Trade, think of buying your Valentine something a little less bitter-sweet, something Fair Trade..
And tell why you did so. The more people that do, the more the Fair Trade movement will grow.
Challenge yourself and others to buy Fair Trade products whenever they are available.
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