I shall tell you a story

Once upon a time, there were these two little boys – Ben and his little brother Al. They didn’t have any parents, although their grandma oversaw what they got up to.
Ben was Grandma’s favourite because she thought he looked just like his dad, and although Al looked like their dad too, Grandma couldn’t really see it.
One day, Ben decided he was going to look after Al, so he started deciding what Al should do, what he could eat, where he could go and what he could play with. Grandma thought it was lovely that Ben wanted to look after Al like that, so she encouraged him. Al didn’t like being told what to do and not being allowed to play with what he liked, but Grandma told him he was being ungrateful for the help that Ben was giving him and that he had to be nice to Ben.
Eventually, Al got fed up and got some Lego bricks and started flicking them at Ben. They stung when they hit him, so Ben threw some big wooden blocks back at Al. These hit Al on the head and gave him concussion. Al complained loudly, but Grandma told him that it was his fault because he was throwing Lego first. She said that Ben was only a little boy and the neighbourhood kids were always picking on him, so he was within his rights to defend himself if someone attacked him.

The End.

What do you think?
How can Ben & Al's relationship be fixed?

I have no idea, but I know the situation cannot continue this way for much longer.

What does the Fairtrade mark mean?

[written for University of Reading Student Newspaper, Spark,
for Fairtrade Fortnight 2006]

Many products in the UK carry the Fairtrade logo, but it is not often clear precisely what ‘being Fairtrade’ actually means, so I will try to explain what Fairtrade certification is and what the logo signifies. I will use the example of coffee growers, as that is probably one of the areas you will best recognise for Fairtrade, and also it is one of the biggest portions of the scheme.

In 1989, the world coffee market was decentralised and as a result, the prices crashed. A huge number of coffee growers now receive less money for their crop than it costs them to produce it, and in some cases get back barely half of their outlay. Indeed, growers are now receiving around one-quarter of what they were getting for their coffee beans 40 years ago and some 25 million people can no longer afford basic living costs. Yet, the roasters (the companies we recognise) are making bigger & bigger profits. Somehow, the fact that the poorest people in the world seem to be subsidising our coffee drinking doesn’t really seem fair, but what difference does being Fairtrade make?

Fairtrade certified products ensure that the growers have received at least a living wage for their work. This is above the standard market value and is a figure which is linked to the cost of production, meaning that growers can make the profit they need to feed their families, send their children to school and afford the cost of proper healthcare. For example, in 2003, coffee growers in Fairtrade schemes were paid between 2 and 3 times the going rate for their crop (around 120¢/lb, instead of 50¢/lb). The benefits to the individual farmers here is obvious, but there is another benefit to being part of a Fairtrade scheme, which is what is called the Social Premium. This is an additional 5¢/lb, which is paid, not to the individual farmer, but to their community and is spent of projects such as healthcare and education which benefits even more people. There are fairly?/ethically?traded goods which are not Fairtrade and it is often this social premium that is the difference. For example, all Green & Black’s chocolate provide the growers with a fair wage, but only their Maya Gold is certified Fairtrade. However, the best way to guarantee that growers have been paid fairly is to look out for the Fairtrade logo on the packaging.

Finally, aside from the benefits to the farmers though, there are also benefits to the consumer. There are tight quality criteria which producers have to meet before they can be certified as Fairtrade, meaning that Fairtrade coffee is often of a higher standard than non-Fairtrade produce. Also, because they cannot afford expensive agricultural chemicals, most Fairtrade farmers are producing pretty much organic coffee ‘by default’, meaning that it is better for the environment as well.


So, now you know how much of a difference Fairtrade can make to producers lives, would you consider making Fairtrade your habit? Keep an eye out for the logo!