This year’s world climate change talks were labelled the “COP of Action”, with the aim of acting on the promises made the previous year, at the landmark Paris agreement. For the first time, the Conference of Parties is being held in Africa and Morocco has positioned itself as an advocate for the continent, highlighting agriculture and farmers as a key topic. Farmers in low income countries around the world are among the least responsible for climate change but have been bearing the brunt of it, a key concern for Fairtrade.
As delegates will know, many farmers are already at the sharp end of the impacts of climate change and time is running out. As the UN’s climate summit approaches its final talks, Fairtrade urges the international community to act.
Farmers in India are doing what they can to mitigate the effects of climate change but they can’t do it alone, and they are still losing their crops. In this film, Farmer Benny Mathew, says: “Climate change is the biggest problem faced by farmers in Kerala today. Farming in this region has been badly hit.” Fairtrade farmers’ organisation Manucardu Social Service Society (MASS), has echoed Benny’s concerns.
Bijumon Kurian, president of MASS who represents these farmers, writes:
“In the western Ghats of Kerala, the hamlet of Keezhanthoor has been producing specialty Arabica coffee for the past 25 years. This beautiful hilltop is a biodiversity hotspot. There are around 200 farmers living in this village who depend on growing coffee and vegetables for their living. They work hard to make sure their coffee meets the organic and Fairtrade sustainability standards and in doing so have been able to get better prices and access to markets, as well as improving soil fertility, which mitigates in many ways against the impact of climate change. It has made them more aware of the harmful effects of deforestation, as previously they cut shade trees for fuel. Since becoming part of MASS, they have understood the need to protect the rainforest and followed training on organic farming. But still, on the edge of the forest many people outside of MASS continue to use dangerous chemicals.
While methods like harvesting rain help to protect the environment, the lack of rain this year has been a significant problem. These villagers, who are entirely dependent on rain, haven’t had any for the past three months. They have lost 30% of their coffee crops as the plants dry up or die. In addition, the vegetable crops that they grow for food are not ripening. And the crops that survived have been damaged by elephants who are venturing out of the forest in search of water.
In the past, the farmers cultivated paddy but because of climate change now this is not viable, as the process of cultivation takes 120 days and timely rain is critical. Also vegetable cultivation which thrived in the earlier cool climate has been affected. Vegetables and spices depend on seasonal October rain for blooming and pollination. If they don’t receive rain, vegetables do not flower and in the cases of spices, the berries wither or yield immature berries.
Farmers depend on coffee for their income. Now their livelihoods are threatened, and they have to spend what little money they have on buying food from the market because their vegetable crops have failed. There is not enough left to pay for their children’s education. And education isn’t easy to come by for many of our rural communities. Before Fairtrade was established four years ago in this village, they didn’t have a primary school, and still the children have to travel to neighbouring towns for secondary education, which they can only afford because of the Fairtrade Premium that pays for their transport.
The village also struggled to make a decent living from coffee back then, as traders took advantage and refused to pay competitive prices or even the market price. These traders monopolised the market by acting as loan sharks, advancing farmers so they could pay for their day-to-day needs but on high interest, which then forced the farmers to sell on terms they dictated.
Farmers have worked hard to follow MASS training, adapting their techniques for organic methods, including water harvesting and multi-cropping. This has given them a better income and helps protect the biodiversity of their home. But nearby plantations use chemical farming methods, which is causing pollution at a time when they are struggling to cope with ongoing drought. They want more support for organic farming, even subsidies, and banning of chemicals from nearby farms. More needs to be done to reduce environmental pollution in general.
World leaders should make a consistent and collective effort in tackling climate change by reducing carbon emissions through stringent laws. Environmental audits should be mandatory for all industries. They should nurture research on efficient bio-fuels, biofertilisers and biopesticides and thereby craft a green revolution.”
It is time businesses scaled up their efforts to help smallholder farmers in supply chains access the finance they need to become more resilient and adapt their farming methods. For as the experiences of Indian farmers show, we need to invest more in sustainable agriculture and we need to do it now.
Find out more about Fairtrade’s Climate Standard.
Content on this page is paid for and provided by Fairtrade Foundation, sponsor of the spotlight on commodities series
