What is Fairtrade?
Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. Fairtrade guarantees to you, the buyer, that farmers, growers and small-scale producers are getting a fair deal. It is an alternative approach to conventional international trade. If a product is part of the Fairtrade system, farmers are:
- Paid a guaranteed minimum price that covers costs and exceeds the world market price
- Given a premium to invest in their local community
- Guaranteed long-term and more direct trading relations
- Helped to improve their working conditions and their environment
- Members of democratic organisations, usually a co-operative
By requiring companies to pay above market prices and offer long-term contracts, Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. The purpose of Fairtrade is not merely to avoid exploitation of suppliers but to help make a real improvement in people’s lives.
"Without Fairtrade often the people who grow our tea and coffee don’t even cover their costs and have to go without food and medicine. Fairtrade is the sensible answer to this. It means that workers and growers overseas get a fair deal and it is an easy way for everyone in Birmingham to help change millions of lives around the world." (Oxfam Campaigner, Eliot Whittington)
Fairtrade enables small producers to have more control over their lives: they can plan and invest in their future. For 500,000 workers and farmers in the developing world, Fairtrade means better education for their children, improved health care and respect.
The FAIRTRADE Mark means you can trust Fairtrade.
