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Fair Trade as a norm

Submitted by admin on Wed, 11/07/2012 - 07:41

I Shop Fair: Fairtrade Fast Becoming the Norm?

According to two reports by Fairtrade International (www.fairtrade.net) the number of Fairtrade certified goods is still still on the increase and there are no signs of it slowing down. Indeed from 2010 to 2011 there was a 10% increase in number of total fairtrade producer organizations worldwide and 13 % increase in number of total farmers and workers involved in fairtrade. The reports being cited in this article are:

1. Monitoring Report 2012, available on:

www.fairtrade.net/fileadmin/user_upload/content/2009/resources/2012-Monitoring_report_web.pdf; and

2. Let’s make Fairtrade the norm, available on:

Fairtrade brings many benefits to peope in developing countries. In the first report it was argued that “one of the ways in which Fairtrade contributes most strongly to rural development is by giving farmers and workers a unique opportunity to plan, design, and implement development projects for their communities through participatory decision-making processes“. However in order for fairtrade to become the norm more important person need to become involved in fair trade other that the producer, which of course is you, the consumer.

Do you shop fair?

At the Annual Commercial Conference in London the outcomes of IDG VistaShopper research were revelead to the public and to some people’s suprise the UK has the biggest share of Fairtrade market. Research found out that more than a third (35%) of shoppers in UK say they have specifically chosen to buy Fairtrade in recent weeks (compared with 9% who said this in 2006). What people miss the most is better awareness where money is spent on what differrence buying of fairtrade product will make and how standards of fairtrade are monitored. As argued during the conference and cited in the second paper referred to:

“Fairtrade is a movement whose time has truly come. It began on the fringes, but has been growing in terms of sales and support for many years. One in five shoppers expect to buy more Fairtrade in the year to come – and only one in 100 are expecting to buy less. I believe the ultimate objective now should be to make Fairtrade mainstream“.

From a global perspective retail sales oin Fairtrade certified products increased by a total of 12% in 2011. Leading fairtrade products are coffee, tea, bananas, cocoa, sugar and flowers and hopefully the list of fairly produced goods will be on the increase.

I Shop Fair Projct

The “I shop fair“ is an EU sponsored project under the EuropeAid budget line, which KKG togther with other participants from the Czech republic, Germany and Austria is involved in. The aim of the project is to raise awareness about the gap between rich countries in the global north and poorer countries in the global south. In particular the project aims at drawing attention about condition and situation of workers in south development countries and build awareness about this issue. The projects is focused on the Garment, Toys, Computer and Flower industry. Project is interested in worker rights and will inform people about all of this by organization of various events, seminars and activities. The website of the project "I shop fair" has been launched recently. More information you can find at www.ishopfair.net

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