Last Saturday I was at an event in a rural village hall in Suffolk talking to a group of local Fairtrade supporters – campaigners, shoppers and local business people who, alongside thousands more across the UK, have long backed Fairtrade and our goal of fighting poverty through trade.
Nothing remarkable about that on one level – there are hundreds of similar events across the UK every year – though I always come away motivated and inspired by how committed and determined people are. But amidst the bunting and the (very good) cakes there were signs of something new that is going to be incredibly important in the years ahead. There are seven Fairtrade Towns in Suffolk but this was the first time all seven had come together to plan how they can take their campaigns to a new level, how they can collaborate, reach more people and mobilise more businesses to support Fairtrade across the county.
In Suffolk, as in other parts of the UK, Fairtrade campaigners are getting organised. They are worried about what the future holds for farmers and workers around the world and they want to ensure producers get a better deal. They are recognising that the new challenges we face from globalised trade will demand an even more coherent response.
Public support has been enormously important in getting the concept of Fairtrade out there. The Fairtrade Foundation’s annual report Our Impact Story 2015-2016, shows that British shoppers drove strong growth in sales in our top categories of tea, coffee, cocoa and bananas, as well as wine, flowers and gold. Thanks to them the UK Fairtrade market is now worth an estimated £1.6bn, the largest in the world. This generated an additional £30m in premiums for producers last year alone.
This makes a huge difference to people who otherwise would have no choice but to accept a pittance for their hard work and then struggle to put food on their tables or to send their children to school. For instance, in Ivory Coast, where years of civil war and poverty have taken their toll on communities, 80% of the population live on just 40p per day. Despite being the world’s leading exporter of cocoa beans, 65% of Ivorian cocoa farmers cannot afford food during July and August. There is too little investment in farms, with ageing trees which are less and less productive. Add to that the clear dangers from climate change, with late rains leading to poor harvests in 2015, and there is a very real threat to the long-term viability of the industry.
Farmers must be put first, and this is central to the approach Fairtrade is taking to create a sustainable cocoa trade. By working with Fairtrade and our partners, cocoa farmers have started to build organised, democratic organisations and have invested in a range of community development projects, including providing clean drinking water and educational facilities. For example co-operative, CANN (pdf), represents 600 members, offers training in good agricultural practices and distributes cocoa seedlings, tools, and provides access to credit. Some of the Premium has also been invested in building two primary schools which now provide classes for 200 children. This has been achieved while cocoa farmers were selling only a small share of their produce on Fairtrade terms.
The strong growth in Fairtrade cocoa sales last year – sales volumes were up 5%, generating an estimated £4.8m in Fairtrade Premium, driven in part by Fairtrade’s new cocoa sourcing programmes – will fuel further investment and help drive greater impact. As Fortin Bley, a Fairtrade cocoa farmer from Ivory Coast and secretary general of CANN co-operative, says, “This new model will allow us to sell a lot more cocoa. This is important for enabling us to take environmental, social and economic action for our members. The farmers need to replace ageing trees. Fairtrade Premium allows us to invest in new trees and train our producers which is very important.”
Fairtrade matters. And it’s going to matter even more in light of Brexit. For the first time in more than 40 years, the UK will have no trade policy. We will need to negotiate new trading terms. At best that could bring new opportunities for Britain to lead the world on a fair and open approach to global trade – something which the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has singularly failed to achieve. At worst there is a risk that the rights and needs of poorer communities and producers in Latin America, Africa and Asia will be forgotten. And we can’t let that happen.
An uncertain trading future for the UK could further unbalance the livelihoods of farmers and workers in the global South. Price volatility is an ever-present threat in the global commodities trade and too often producers pay the price for someone else’s profit. In 2015, even before Brexit, we saw yet again that the Fairtrade Minimum Price is still doing its job as a safety net: for eight months last year the world coffee price was below the Fairtrade Minimum Price.
A fairer trading system is needed now, more than ever, but it’s heartening to see all that is already being achieved. Our 2015 report shows that more than 400 companies are now licensed to use the FAIRTRADE Mark on products in the UK. In addition, some leading brands and retailers are looking to go beyond minimum standards to create even deeper change with Fairtrade’s range of offers beyond certification.
Our new strategy, Fairtrade Can, I Can, launched earlier this year, outlines innovative new ways of working with businesses which are closely aligned with the SDGs. We have tested different approaches in our Deepening Impact Programme, working alongside 7,000 farmers with companies ranging from Waitrose (pdf) and Liberation Foods (pdf) to Matthew Algie and Marks & Spencer. And with our new ways of sourcing major ingredient commodities we have been able to partner with organisations such as Mars Chocolate UK and Transport for London to increase Fairtrade market access for farmers.
We don’t have to wait for another corporate scandal like Sports Direct or BHS to know that another way of trading is possible. We don’t need to wait for post-Brexit negotiations to ensure that producers from the South do not fall out of mind just because they are out of sight. Globalisation does not need to mean abuse, scandal and exploitation. There are enormous opportunities now for companies and our government to do the right thing, to seek to make trade work for everyone in their supply chain. But until those opportunities are grasped, marginalised farmers and workers will need to know they have the support of the British public – such as those inspiring Fairtrade campaigning groups in Suffolk – as never before.
Content on this page is paid for and provided by Fairtrade Foundation, sponsor of the spotlight on commodities series
