Fairtrade has always been about change. We have long campaigned to end the grossly unfair global trading system that has brought profits for the few by exploiting the many. But the changes we have seen in the wider world in the past year have been deeper, faster and more uncertain perhaps than at any time in our 20 year history. For the first time since the 1970s, the UK will have to negotiate trade agreements with the rest of the world once it leaves the EU. There is, as yet, no clear plan. If we are to end exploitation, we need to ensure developing country farmers and workers have a voice in these trade deals.
Will the preferential access they have enjoyed to the UK market, as part of the EU, continue? If not, what will happen to jobs and economies across Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific, which depend on sales from the UK? The Kenya flower sector, for example, provides work for 500,000 people and 25% of their exports come to the UK (almost a quarter of which come from Fairtrade certified farms). Without EU preferences flower producers could face tariffs of between 8.5-12%, enough to destroy an already stressed supply-chain.
Too much uncertainty makes businesses risk-averse and threatens to undermine the UN’s expectation on industries to increase their investment in poor countries and help achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Brexit is make-or-break for millions of people who currently trade with us. The UK could seize the opportunity to lead the world on fairer trade rules; alternatively inattention and disinterest could remove invaluable market access and destroy livelihoods. This is a crucial time – and as I’ve said before, we know that many UK consumers care deeply about this. That’s why we delivered a petition to Theresa May signed by more than 50,000 people, asking her to promise that the UK’s future trade policy will fight poverty.
With so many pressing needs closer to home, it’s easy to see how the needs of farmers in poor countries could slip from the PM’s “to do” list. Her focus on people who are just about managing is a welcome recognition that many British people are struggling to get by. In the UK, food bank use is at an all-time high and forecasters predict that next year prices for everyday groceries will rise.
In today’s inter-connected world concern must also extend to people who aren’t managing: worldwide 400 million farmers do not earn enough to feed their families. How much of the coffee and tea we will drink today was grown by someone not earning enough to make sure their children eat properly? How much of the chocolate, the flowers, or the wine we give at Christmas has been produced out of poverty?
Producers face even bigger risks in 2017. UK supermarkets continue to be locked into price wars. According to The Grocer, retailers lost more than £800m in slashed margins this year in a desperate effort to compete. If this goes unchecked, suppliers may be forced to cut corners on labour or environmental standards or to source from cheaper parts of the world. The race to the bottom is fatal – we cannot allow this exploitation to continue just so we can have cheap goods.
It doesn’t need to be like this. Fairtrade harnesses the potential of trade for a better world. This year we have redoubled our efforts to drive impact. Back in March, we launched our new strategy, Fairtrade Can, I Can, which builds on our core work of standards and certification with innovative new ways of working with business to achieve the SDGs. The first of these showcased our Deepening Impact pilot and collaboration with companies such as Waitrose, Percol Coffee and Marks & Spencer, to tackle systemic industry challenges.
More recently we announced a new partnership with Mondelez’s sustainability programme, Cocoa Life. To date, selected bars of Cadbury Dairy Milk have been Fairtrade certified. That will cease in 2017 - instead we will work as a partner across the whole of Cocoa Life which will extend its reach to 200,000 cocoa smallholders. We will also publish a review of the programme each year, to ensure the partnership is delivering for producers and that Mondelez is held to account. It is a move that is unprecedented for Fairtrade, taking us beyond certification. With poverty endemic in cocoa communities it is imperative that the benefits of trade reach many more people.
However, what will never change are Fairtrade’s core values – our belief in justice and equity and in the potential for trade to change lives if producers are put first. The vast majority of our work continues to be certification, making sure products, producers and traders meet the Fairtrade Standards.
Small-scale producers are no strangers to risk. They are too often the last to hear about market trends and the first to bear the brunt of price cuts. Political uncertainty hits markets where it hurts: the slump in the British pound this year has made foreign imports more expensive. Speculation and price volatility are ever-present and the Fairtrade market was a life-line for many producers in 2016. As if more risk were needed, producers now face the reality of climate change on a daily basis. In October Haitian cocoa farmers’ smallholdings were almost completely wiped out by Hurricane Matthew; 175,000 people lost their homes and livelihoods and many are in communities too remote to receive the assistance they need to get back on their feet. We’re standing by them this Christmas, launching a special appeal to help during this most desperate time.
In 2017 we will continue to support farmers, we will be pressing companies to go further and we will hold the government to account. Most importantly, we’ll be empowering consumers to make a difference. By changing the way we shop, we can help producers manage risk. Let’s ensure we don’t feed exploitation in 2017.
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