What can I do to help promote fair trade?

Here are some tips how you can help foster Fair Trade in your own way: Buy Fair Trade products from your local stores and supermarkets, and encourage your family, friends and colleagues to do the same. If your favourite store or supermarket is not selling Fair Trade products, ask the store manager/owner to include Fair Trade…

How does Fairtrade help people around the world?

It will help us, but it will also help people around the world, because the benefits of protecting the environment are for everyone. It is a matter of helping each other. As a Fairtrade farmer, I finally feel competitive – I feel that I have a tool in my hand. It has given me knowledge, so that I am more able to defend myself and my people.

What foods can you buy that are fair trade?

2. Purchase food that is Fair Trade Certified to support and empower farmers. (Don’t forget to look for the mark on the product or ask a store manager!) Fair trade produce includes: bananas, cocoa, coffee, flowers, sugar, tea, composite products, carbon credits, fresh fruit, gold, honey, juices, rice, spices and herbs, sports balls, and wine.

How does Fairtrade help farmers who are not certified?

Fairtrade can be a tool to help farmers who are not certified. We educate the producers around us about market prices so that buyers have to offer them a competitive rate. It also benefits the wider community. When there was a hurricane, the new road became blocked and the bridge came down.

How does the Fair Trade Foundation help farmers?

The Fair Trade Foundation counters that Fair Trade is not about giving farmers a percentage of profits but about ensuring that they get paid enough to cover the cost of their labour and allow them to invest in improvements. The Fair Trade Foundation cannot control the efficiency of a company’s production process nor the efficacy of their marketing.

Do you think fair trade is an effective intervention?

Fair Trade may not be an effective intervention but it does keep poverty in people’s minds. It is an improvement on not caring at all. Many of the articles I cited above criticise Fair Trade but they do not provide an altruistic alternative.