My Fair Trade

We all want to feel good about ourselves and we have all heard about Fairtrade – the movement that gives the world’s producers a better deal – but it’s all too easy to be full of good intentions but not know how to make Fairtrade part of your life.

Well, now you can!

All you need to do is add www.My-Fair-Trade.co.uk your list of Internet Favourites and click on it anytime that you feel like buying something, be it a gift for a birthday or clothes or food or whatever! The new website is working hard to make it easy for you to find Fairtrade products at the click of a button and have them delivered to your doorstep. And you’ll be making a real difference to people’s lives at the same time.

John Higgins, website owner, says “you can already source hundreds of different Fair Trade products and gifts on the website and we’ll be making many more available very soon. There are going to reviews of Fairtrade products and we’ll make it increasingly easy to find what you are looking for.”

The site has a handy newsletter option so you can be informed of special offers and promotions as they arise. It’s a niche market that is growing in popularity in the UK, the UDA and around the globe.

“People know that it’s a good idea to support Fairtrade in the UK and elsewhere, but life is so busy for us all that it is not always that simple in practise. You will always have the option of quickly finding a Fairtrade gift for Granny’s birthday if you keep a note of our website.”

The site has some resources for finding out or about Fair Trade in the UK, and elsewhere, and even has a Fairtrade video. You can also send in details of fair trade events near to you and they will appear in the calendar section of the site where other visitors can find out about them and, hopefully, attend your event.

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Fair trade, the environment, organic growing and consumer shopping are all linked. However much we might like to think that there is no reason for us to be bothered about how our consumer goods are produced we now have to face that it makes an increasing difference to the world we live in – and to us.

Take climate change. It is happening at an ever increasingly fast rate, certainly a lot faster that we had become used to. We can see the effects on our weather right now. You only have to think about the last few winters and summers, especially if you are based in the UK, to see that our weather has changed a great deal in a short time.

Now, if the climate is changing what effect will that have on the agriculture of the world? Things like the cocoa tree, which is an important source of income for millions of farming families in equatorial regions, might not grow. West Africa is the largest supplier of cocoa providing for 70 per cent of global production. Take away the cocoa plant and millions of people lose their income.

The consumers, who dominate what happens in this market, would also lose out. No cocoa production means – horror of horrors – no chocolate! Just imagine a world without chocolate! You can see how upset many a consumer would be whether or not you are addicted to the stuff yourself. Fair trade information is crucial to consumers to get to know this.

This is not to play down of make light of the situation Chocoalte has a big role I the foods many of us eat. It goes into far more than just chocolate bars. It is in cakes, sweets, puddings and more.

Cocoa is only one example, of course. There is how much of our food is produced. We have all heard about Fair trade bananas but a huge amount of our food is produced from overseas. We are actually reliant on foreign production of our food supplies so the link between the security of supply and our well being is a very strong one.

You look after yourself when you look after the world’ workers. Simple as that.

By the way, a significant proportion of its cocoa production takes place in very poor circumstances. Child trafficking, poor health and safety measures, serious forms of child labour and the financing of conflicts are the problems most frequently discussed within the cocoa sector, but there are many other problems, too, like the low incomes of the cocoa farmers and their families, the labour intensive nature of production, lack of any access to credit, property rights which are unclear and ignored as well as much more.

The news that Cadburys, for instance, has taken a huge initiative to make Fair Trade an important part of their policy is a good example. They have improved the future of the growers who provide our chocolate at the same time as securing cocoa supply which is good for the company, their shareholders an the consumer.

We live in an increasingly interlinked world. Stand aloof and ignore what is going on and you risk losing much of what you have. Buy Fair trade even if it costs a little more. You will be doing the world’s workers a favour, and yourself, too.

It is a bit heavy, but you can find a lot out at the report on the Oxfam website at http://www.oxfam.org/en/policy/towards-sustainable-cocoa-chain where you can find more Fair Trade Information.

Imagine calling Downing Street to lobby for a cause that is important to you – and getting put through to Prime Minister Gordon Brown himself. Well, that is just what happened to a campaigning student!

Anthony Day wanted to promote Fairtrade Products and called Number 10. He was stunned when he found himself talking with Gordon Brown.

He will get more opportunity to discuss various Fair Trade Facts with the Prime Minister because he has been recognised for his work by the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Award for Inspirational Young People.

Anthony sounds like a fine young person. I wish him well with his meeting with Gordon Brown.

So, Primark have been caught out again. This time, the BBC has found that they have been taking advantage of workers at a factory in Manchester. You can read the full story at the BBC. Essentially, it was one of their suppliers that was found wanting.

Supplier TNS Knitwear was also found to be employing illegal workers in poor conditions making clothes destined for fashion chain Primark. The employees had to work up to 12 hours a day for £3.50 an hour – well below the UK Minimum Wage.

Primark was found wanting last year and put safeguards into place to make sure that their suppliers were treating their workers properly. Indeed, Primark had TNS independently audited on 28 April and 10 December 2008. Being from a financial background I find this very interesting because there have been instances where auditors have been paid to do a job in the pat but failed to find underlying problems. This has happened in all sorts of circumstances, such as when one company buys another and wants to know if there are any difficulties at the firm they are buying.

It could be that the it is the auditing that is really the story here. We will have to see.  In the meantime, we should pay attention to Neil Kearney, of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation. He said that said the investigation findings were a “total scandal”. He went on to say that “This is the importation of third world working conditions into Europe and in this case into the UK.”

“There’s no such thing as cheap clothing; somebody has to pay and in this case it’s the workers in Manchester who pay.”

I wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year!  I also hope that you spend at least some of that prosperity on Fair Trade Products like coffee and clothing.  Some Fair Trade Chocolate would also be an excellent treat!

I hope that you and yours have a wonderful Christmas time this year.  Try to remember to attend Church, especially if you have not been for a while.  You might be surprised.

Did you know that Fair Tarde and Organic Production go hand in hand?   David Ransom talks about this in his excellent little book The No-nonsense Guide to Fair Trade. He makes a valid point that people who work in the Fair Trade scheme can add value to their proposition by delivering organic products.  They are also well placed to do so as they have the experience and very often the desire to provide organic products.  It could well be that the climate that they operate in also lends itself to organic production.

Isn’t great that the two things come together?  It is also kind of funny that there is a big overlap in the two types of people that are interested in Fairtrade and Organic issues respectively.  Good, though!

Getting to grips with Fairtrade – that’s what this site is all about.  It’s probably what you re all about, too, if you are reading this blog!  However, if you have an alternative point of please leave a message and let people know what you think.  I have just one request – please leave a respectful and reasoned argument. Fair trading has come in for some criticism and it is not perfect.  It would be great to engage with anyone who has an opinion about this and to swap arguments.