Fair Trade is a beautiful thing…
Fair Trade is a beautiful thing because it honors the producers around the globe. It is recognition that without the farmers, farm workers & artisans around the globe, who work hard growing & creating, we wouldn’t have any of the products we enjoy. Products like coffee, tea, cocoa & jewelry.
Fair Trade is not aid, but a more equitable & sustainable form of global trade than the current dominant model for international trade. Unlike charity, which doesn’t ask why, Fair Trade tackles the root causes of poverty.
When we make Fair Trade purchases, we are saying that we care about the people behind the products we enjoy every day.
In 2009, 5 million people in over 60 producer countries benefitted directly from Fair Trade. Fair Trade enables the producers to live with dignity, through one of the main Fair Trade criteria; they are paid a living wage (in the local context), which means that after production costs have been paid, there is still sufficient money left to pay for food, clothes, shelter, health care & education.
The Fair Trade movement is consumer-led, so as more people become aware of the Fair Trade alternatives available, demand for these products increases, & so more producers can be brought under the Fair Trade umbrella.
