Better than fair trade. Please don't think I have a blanket objection to "fair trade" products. There is an issue with producers being misled by the fair trade premium into making unwise choices that cannot be sustained. However, so long as buying fair trade does not oblige me to (significantly) contribute to political lobbying that, if successful, would trap Third World countries in failed economic policies, I am happy to pay a little extra to give someone a little extra help. If campaigners wish to use that wonderful capitalist invention, the brand name, to promote ethical behaviour, you won't see me complaining.
Alex Singleton has been arguing that primary producers in fair trade schemes would do better to get involved in packaging and marketing their own wares. It seems that some already do:
As a country-of-origin roaster, we [a company called "Café Britt"] are challenging conventional coffee wisdom, we believe that producing countries are more than raw material suppliers to intermediaries in other countries, we believe that these developing countries can export the finished product with all its value added in the country of origin.
And
Café Britt isn’t all that keen on the Fairtrade mark: in fact, they decided that, despite paying premium prices, the complexity and cost of being on the scheme would be greater than the benefits. In Costa Rica, Café Britt produces some of the raw coffee on its own plantation, but buys the rest from a large number of small farmers. In order to be Fairtrade certified, each of these farmers would require individual auditing and certification (as they don’t belong to a co-operative or to Café Britt directory). That’s just not practical.
posted by Natalie at 4:12 PM
