Fair Trade Overview
Fair Trade Certification empowers farmers and farm workers to lift themselves out of poverty by investing in their farms and communities, protecting the environment, and developing the business skills necessary to compete in the global marketplace.
Fair Trade is much more than a fair price! Fair Trade principles include:
· Fair price: Democratically organized farmer groups receive a guaranteed minimum floor price and an additional premium for certified organic products. Farmer organizations are also eligible for pre-harvest credit.
· Fair labor conditions: Workers on Fair Trade farms enjoy freedom of association, safe working conditions, and living wages. Forced child labor is strictly prohibited.
· Direct trade: With Fair Trade, importers purchase from Fair Trade producer groups as directly as possible, eliminating unnecessary middlemen and empowering farmers to develop the business capacity necessary to compete in the global marketplace.
· Democratic and transparent organizations: Fair Trade farmers and farm workers decide democratically how to invest Fair Trade revenues.
· Community development: Fair Trade farmers and farm workers invest Fair Trade premiums in social and business development projects like scholarship programs, quality improvement trainings, and organic certification.
· Environmental sustainability: Harmful agrochemicals and GMOs are strictly prohibited in favor of environmentally sustainable farming methods that protect farmers’ health and preserve valuable ecosystems for future generations.
TransFair USA, a non-profit organization, is the only independent, third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the U.S. and one of 20 members of Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO). TransFair’s rigorous audit system, which tracks products from farm to finished product, verifies industry compliance with Fair Trade criteria. TransFair allows U.S. companies to display the Fair Trade Certified label on products that meet strict Fair Trade standards
Fair Trade Certification is currently available in the U.S. for coffee, tea and herbs, cocoa and chocolate, fresh fruit, sugar, rice, and vanilla.
For the last five years a group of farmers from Toledo, Belize have been able to sell their product to the Fair Trade market. For them, Fair Trade means the dignity of being able to support themselves, being able to send their children to school and being able to plan for their future.
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Fair Trade Products: cocoa
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Thanks to Fair Trade, several Bolivian co-ops have been able to update their processing equipment, transition to organic production and improve the quality of their coffee. CENAPROC, a Fair Trade coffee co-op, won first and second prize in a recent cupping competition in Bolivia.
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Fair Trade Products: coffee, cocoa
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Brazil is the world's largest coffee grower and second largest coffee consumer (over 25% of world production and 12.5 % of world consumption). Its production in the year 2000 was 31.1 million bags, 60 kg each (80% Arabica and 20% Robusta).
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Fair Trade Products: coffee, mangoes
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Fair Trade premiums in the cocoa cooperative, MACEFCOOP, have been used to strengthen the organization. The cooperative is now able to buy its members' cocoa production, increasing economic stability in the community.
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Fair Trade Products: coffee, cocoa
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China holds a 22.5% share in the world production of tea, producing an estimated 665,030 MT of tea annually, and cultivating approximately 1,0565,000 hectares for that purpose.
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Fair Trade Products: tea
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"Fair Trade has given us hope and courage during the conflict. We know that we have a market for our coffee and we get a fair price for our product. Fair Trade is an empowering alternative to illegal crops."
- Ren� Ausecha Chaux
COSURCA, Colombia
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Fair Trade Products: coffee
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The agriculture sector in Congo, DRC, contributes 58 percent of the GDP and employs an estimated 65.1 percent of labor. The largest (in value terms) agricultural exports in 1998 were coffee, organic material, rubber, cocoa beans and palm oil.
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Fair Trade Products: coffee
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"Ten years ago, our children couldn't study past the age of eight because there was no road to the school and we had no bus service. Now with Fair Trade, we have fixed the road and we have bus service. Our kids can go to school."
- Sabino Brenes
COOCAFE, Costa Rica
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Fair Trade Products: coffee, cocoa, pineapples
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"With Fair Trade income we were able to implement a fermentation program to improve the quality of our cocoa and to convert our production to certified organic. This improved our position in the export market. The Fair Trade market is very important to the survival of our associates."
- Isidoro de la Rosa
CONACADO, a Fair Trade cocoa cooperative
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Fair Trade Products: coffee, cocoa
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"With the Fair Trade premium, the co-op has invested in a health care program that handles more than 12,000 cases each month. Its facilities include 8 fixed clinics and 24 mobile clinics that provide free services to coffee farmers and their families."
- Sam Filiaci
advisor to CCT, East Timor
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Fair Trade Products: coffee
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"The alternative market has been the light that illuminated the road... Knowing that there are people that support our efforts and understand that cocoa not only serves to make chocolate, but also represents the only hope for thousands of poor farmers, gives us the strength to continue."
- Jos� Santos Santos
MCCH, a Fair Trade cocoa cooperative
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Fair Trade Products: coffee, cocoa, bananas, mangoes
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"Before Fair Trade, our children were malnourished and many of us could not afford to put shoes on our feet! With Fair Trade we are able to do this and more. With the Fair Trade premium we have renovated a soccer field in town, put a new roof on the local school and paid for emergency medical expenses for some of our members."
- Alfredo Rumaldo Asencio
APECAFE, El Salvador
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Fair Trade Products: coffee
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"We have been registered with Fair Trade for two years. Our members have greatly benefited from the profit generated. On top of that, we are getting technical and financial support. Therefore, Fair Trade membership is very important to our organization and its members."
- Tadesse Meskela
OCFCU, Ethiopia
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Fair Trade Products: coffee
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"Before Fair Trade, payments to me were always late, money was always scarce�There has been a remarkable change to my life since I joined Kuapa Kokoo. Now I know how to manage my money and my farm, and now I am able to afford school fees for my children."
- Paulina
Kuapa Kokoo, a Fair Trade cocoa cooperative
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Fair Trade Products: cocoa
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"Other producers earn very little because they sell to coyotes. Our people are better off than other producers in the region since we are getting the Fair Trade price. We are happy to sell our coffee directly to Fair Trade importers. Producers in our co-op have been able to keep their land and send their kids to school."
- Evelio Saucedo
Asobagri, Guatemala
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Fair Trade Products: coffee
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"After so many years of dictatorship, many farmers in the country were afraid to organize themselves. Fair Trade has given us the courage to establish our cooperative, which allows us to export our coffee to the international markets."
- Barthelemy-Louis Leon
RECOCARNO, Haiti
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Fair Trade Products: coffee, cocoa
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"If we weren't involved with Fair Trade, we wouldn't be able to provide for our basic needs during this crisis. We are only able to stay afloat because we have a reliable market to sell our product to."
- Daniel Chinchilla
COGRISCAL, Honduras
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Fair Trade Products: coffee
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The tea trade in India is one of the largest contributors to the country's economy. It is the world's single largest producer of tea, producing an estimated 870 million kgs in 1998. In 1997, India exported an estimated 203 million kgs of tea.
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Fair Trade Products: tea
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"When you drink our coffee, don't just think about the money we're making, but about the species we're protecting in the midst of this conflict. The Fair Trade price is not just about money, it's about protecting the eco-system and our community."
- Iswandi Idris
PPKGO, Indonesia
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Fair Trade Products: coffee
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Introduced to Kenya in 1903, Kenya's tea production has steadily gained dominance over the years. Tea production increased from 220,722,149 kg/year in 1997 to 294,631,338 kg/year in 2001.
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Fair Trade Products: tea
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"The more Fair Trade coffee we sell, the more stability we have in our community, and the less we have to migrate. Fair Trade gives us hope."
- Jorge Reina Aguilar
ISMAM, Mexico
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Fair Trade Products: coffee, mangoes
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Over the years, Nepal's tea industry has grown steadily, currently producing over 6 million kilograms of tea a year. Nepal's aromatic tea has become extremely popular around the world, and each year teas are exported to the United Sates, Japan, Canada, and many European countries.
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Fair Trade Products: tea
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"Before, life was very hard for us, mainly because we could never get a decent price for our coffee. Now we have our own export co-op, and we sell to the Fair Trade market. Fair Trade gives us a fair price and access to credit. It also gives us dignity. We are treated as equals."
- Santiago Rivera
Prodecoop, Nicaragua
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Fair Trade Products: coffee, cocoa
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"Producers feel empowered. With Fair Trade, farmers are in control of what they get for their coffee production. Fair Trade is broadening our horizons."
- George Pirie
AGOGA Plantations, Papua New Guinea
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Fair Trade Products: coffee
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"Fair Trade is very much in our best interests�Fair Trade offers us a premium over the market price, which makes us work harder to produce better coffee."
- Gregorio Gómez
CECOVASA, Peru
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Fair Trade Products: coffee, cocoa, bananas, mangoes
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"A year ago, we didn't have any electricity in our houses. Some money came from the Fair Trade premium and we each took out a loan. With electricity, my children can study at night. I am happy that Fair Trade helps me support my family."
- Sivapackiam
tea picker at a Fair Trade tea estate, Sri Lanka
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Fair Trade Products: tea
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"Without our cooperative and selling to the Fair Trade market, our lives would be at great risk. Our cooperative and the Fair Trade buyers give us hope and courage for we are able to earn a higher wage and better provide for our families."
- Mathew Matoli and Felister Kimario
KNCU, Tanzania
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Fair Trade Products: coffee, tea
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Unbeknownst to many, Thailand is the third largest coffee producer in Southeast Asia, behind Indonesia and Vietnam. Production is currently around 100,000 tons per year. Approximately 300 tons of the arabica (best quality) species is produced, primarily in the high mountains of Northern Thailand.
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Fair Trade Products: coffee
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"The money from the premium has helped me to pay for my daughter's school fees which are very expensive. I tell my children and neighbours to spend time producing good quality coffee. Since the other farmers have seen Mr. Wamayeye giving us the Fair Trade premium, they have tried to emulate what we are doing."
- Difasi Namisi
BCU, Uganda
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Fair Trade Products: coffee, tea
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Now producing about one percent of the world's coffee, most of it consumed at home, Venezuela once rivaled Colombia in coffee production. Recent efforts have been made to revive and expand the industry.
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Fair Trade Products: coffee
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Known as one of the most ancient cradles of tea, Vietnam's area of tea cultivation has increased rapidly, from 5,400 cultivated hectares in 1975, to 80,000 hectares in 2000. The export quantity has risen from 17,500 tons in 1995 up to 55,600 tons today.
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Fair Trade Products: tea
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Tea production in Zimbabwe began commercially only after the successful establishment of irrigated tea estates. Zimbabwe now exports over 8000 tons of tea per year. Today, tea is a "controlled" commodity in Zimbabwe so that its quality and industry growth are protected.
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Fair Trade Products: tea