Fairtrade - does it work?

[Milge]

I know it has been around for years, but is the fairtrade logo on food/drink a real guarantee that the growers/producers are paid a fair wage, or is it all a bit of a con? We had a group of friends round for the weekend, and the subject came around to fairtrade, and a lot of them cast serious doubt over whether the growers actually reaped any benefit from it, whether the claims made on the boxes were actually lived up to ,etc, a bit like previous queries over whether disaster relief monies for the tsunami ever get through, that kind of scepticism. Are they right?

oops didn't finish my post

Also there's no set 'standards' for Equitrade - as there's no body overseeing the whole thing.

So theoretically the retailer in this country could still pay the producers a pittance for their goods, and then the workers manufacturing the goods could also easily be paid pittance (like Sweatshops in asia)

Also reading this article I do a few other bugbears with it.

This emphasis on the country only receiving 9 cents from a $3 bar of chocolate.......well yes 9 cents in "our" terms is a pittance, but quite a lot for them.

And the issues of it only benefiting the farmers concerns me too. If a farmer is getting a decent price for his goods, then he has money to plough back into his business, feeds his family, and most importantly will be able to send his children to school. Once you educate the 'masses' (so to speak) a country is then able to develop at a faster rate as the youngsters will have the skills and knowledge required to move industry, education and health on.

I can certainly see it has it's good points too, but not enough accountability for my liking yet.

I try to buy FairTrade, but obviously it won't alone fix things. I think of it as a direct way for an individual like me to make a contribution. I think that there probably are some issues with differential effects, but rather less so than child sponsorship (being about a farm rather than an individual). I like the FairTrade schemes with a social/environmental aspect, so that the farm has to make some effort too. I try to support charities that are involved long term with the communities they support, and particularly like Sightsavers, which have an emphasis on training local people, and prevention.

Ultimately a lot of issues aren't going to get resolved without political change, and there are some interesting theories about negative effects of aid on governament. I don't think that should stop me as an individual trying to find things to support, just that simple solutions aren't necessarily the best.

Sad that Green and Black has been sold to Cadburys.

but Nooka - Child Sponsorship isn't just about the individual either....

No, but it does single individuals out, although I know that some of the schemes are more about villages. Actually I have thought about it, because I think that it would be a good connection for the children. Just not on it's own.