Fair Trade

So I’m writing on something I don’t usually write about and wouldn’t have thought to write about. But the boss (well, one of them, there’s a lot of people that can “suggest” things to me) suggested I write an article on Fairtrade. I’m not writing to convince you about fair trade, but to look at some issues about Fairtrade. Especially since the church I go to is a Fairtrade church and people have recently been asking if we should be. Hopefully this helps answer some of that. This is particularly because recently Fairtrade has started to cop a fair bit of criticism and more exposure. Four Corners (an Australian TV program) did an expose on it that showed that there were some Fairtrade cocoa farms that actually did have child slaves working on it. The other suggestion is that Fairtrade is simply economically unsound. I’m going to have a look at both criticisms: is Fairtrade ethical and fair, and is Fairtrade economically sound? Yes, I’ve done research and no I’m not referencing in text because that’s boring. But if you want to chase up on me you can either do your own research or kick off by reading the articles I’ve linked to at the bottom of this post.

Is Fairtrade fair? Well, yes it is. Becoming a certified Fairtrade produce and distributor is really hard. Just ask the guys at Silvertip who produce the St. Paul’s Fairtrade coffee: Malacci’s. It took their boss a long time to become Fairtrade certified and source the beans and he’s a bit of a bigwig in the Australian coffee industry. I’m aware that difficulty in becoming certified doesn’t make it fair though but there are a lot of checks and balances in the system, and Fairtrade producers are regularly audited. You might be going, “well, if there are child slaves working on Fairtrade farms then the auditing can’t be that great.” Which is a valid point, but here’s the deal: if a Fairtrade farm is shown to be rorting the system the Fairtrade organisation can be brought to bear and force them to stop. Currently they are doing this with the cocoa farms in practice and also running an investigation to make sure this doesn’t happen again. If a non-Fairtrade certified farm is using child labour nobody can stop them doing that.

Is Fairtrade actually ethical? The two major items that are Fairtrade are coffee and chocolate and there are different issues there. With coffee it is primarily about ensuring a reasonable guaranteed price for the farmers; while this is also the case with cocoa, cocoa also has the issue of child slaves and child labour. Fairtrade is making a difference in both these areas and has made a difference. Fairtrade co-ops have used the money received to build better infrastructure, send kids to school and ensure that they can actually afford medical care when they receive it. If you don’t believe me about the child slaves check out Carol Off’s book ‘Bitter Chocolate.’

Is Fairtrade economically sound? The Adam Smith Institute claims that Fairtrade actually causes more poverty in the long run and creates dependency. Fairtrade organisations say that no, Fairtrade will make a difference and is bringing people out of poverty. Some economists and critics claim that forces should be left up to the market and long term that will bring poor producers up to a Western standard quicker. Fairtrade advocates say that this isn’t working.

To be honest I agree with both. I think we do need to invest economically in poorer countries rather than throwing aid at them. Building schools and universities, clinics and roads is an important thing to do. Also starting up business and investing in them is a good idea especially when these factories pay fair wages. But to be honest we’re not really doing those things and Fairtrade is doing something. Which makes me inclined to believe Fairtrade. If this doesn’t satisfy your economic brain read Tim Foster’s comment on Tony Payne’s blog about Fairtrade which claims that Fairtrade is economically sound and gives reasons (one of the links below).

To be honest I don’t think Fairtrade is perfect. It can be bureaucratic and slow. Sometimes it does miss stuff. But it can fix the things it misses. And it is making a difference to many peoples lives. It definitely needs more work-which people are putting into it. I think the best thing about Fairtrade is that it is actually making a difference and many people who criticize Fairtrade offer no solutions (*cough* blog mentioned above *cough*). Yes, be aware of the issues and make sure that you do keep Fairtrade ethical. At the moment Fairtrade is better than the other options and buying Fairtrade chocolate and coffee is a damn easy way to make a difference. You can’t force governments to do things-but you can switch to Fairtrade over other choices. Vote with you feet. People may say it’s just tokenism to make us feel good about ourselves, and up to a point this is true. But it’s tokenism that’s making a difference.

As a Christian I think Martin Luther sums up nicely why we should be striving to make a difference even with our luxury goods purchases: “We are saved by faith alone [not our works], but not by faith that remains alone.” If you have any more questions or comments please feel free to ask below.

The Tony Payne Blog (Tony Payne is intentionally provocative in his writings. Just be aware of that): http://solapanel.org/article/smell_the_coffee/

Summary of the Four Corners report: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2010/s2885745.htm

The Fairtrade homepage: http://www.fairtrade.net

Why Cadbury’s hasn’t been promoting its Fairtradeyness in Australia: http://www.smh.com.au/business/cadbury-wont-dare-milk-fair-trade-gong-20100617-yjyg.html

Carol Off’s book: http://books.google.com.au/books?id=xdCxktE3acYC&dq=carol+off&source=bl&ots=TkuOuil8Z8&sig=3--yKu7soHoloVFdqWpb3JrLK10&hl=en&ei=xPwaTIqgCsmekQXHmIifCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAg

Good article on the issues with Fairtrade: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6426417.stm