Sugar Coated Consumerism?

Can the products we buy really change people’s lives? The benefits of Fairtrade…

WHEN YOU first heard that Manchester was a “Fairtrade University”, did the following questions pop into your head: Bothered? What on earth is Fairtrade? What does ‘Guarantees a better deal for third world producers’ actually mean? If I’m never going to meet the producers, why should I care? Isn’t free trade the way forward? And, most importantly: Why should students who live in debt pay an extra 10p for a chocolate bar? 

You wouldn’t be alone. “All I know is that Fairtrade coffee is OK,” said Dominic Jones, studying for a PhD in Engineering. Indeed, the majority of people struggle to understand why the symbol of a man on a green and blue background has become the latest fad of those who speak of our responsibility to the world. In the past few years, there’s been a massive increase in buzzwords like ‘sustainability’, ‘responsibility’, and ‘ethical consumerism.’ Can buying a Fairtrade pint in the Students’ Union really make such a difference to those in Third World countries?

The Fairtrade Foundation defines the Fairtrade Mark as, “an independent consumer label, which appears on products as an independent guarantee that disadvantaged producers in the developing world are getting a better deal.” If you switch off after reading that it wouldn’t be hard to blame you. However, with Mintel predicting that sales of Fairtrade products will reach over £547 million in the UK by 2011 and 2,000 products already in the shops, someone must be buying into it. So what does it actually mean?

Joyce is a sugar farmer in Malawi. Until very recently the women in her village have had to walk several kilometres every day to collect unclean water from the crocodile-infested Shire River. However, the group of growers that she belongs to (Kasinthula Cane Growers Ltd.) decided to invest some of the extra money earned from Fairtrade towards building a borehole for fresh water.

The stability of her income since selling on Fairtrade terms has also given her real hope for her son, "I want my baby to have a good future," she said. "If I am able to get more money, I could send him to high school so he may stand by himself in the future.” This is the message which Fairtrade carries for producers: independence, hope and, mostly importantly, dignity.

But why do producers need a better deal in the first place? How much do you expect to earn at the end of your degree…twenty to thirty grand? However much it is, once you enter a job you will have a guaranteed income, plus a Christmas bonus if you do a few favours for the boss! But imagine not knowing your wage from one year to the next. Since the 1980s the market price of many commodities being imported from the developing countries has erratically altered partly due to the removal of agreed quotas between producer and consumer countries. However, the amount spent on a jar of coffee here remains roughly the same.

According to the International Coffee Organisation, coffee producers in Ethiopia received between $0.49 and $0.84 per lb in 2006 depending on the month. This would be like walking into Sainsbury’s and discovering that the price of your coffee had gone up from £2 to £3.43. Taking it from another perspective, if your £20,000 wage dropped by the same amount, you would be left with £11,648. That kind of wage insecurity is unthinkable in the UK, yet it is reality for the producers of a huge range of commodities (coco, sugar, rubber, tea etc).

It is virtually impossible for producers to save and, therefore, plan for the future because they do not know the price they will receive from month to month. Proponents of Fairtrade argue that this means producers have very little stability and makes them unwilling to invest in long-term projects. For example, sending their children to school may seem pointless when they have to pull them out a few months later when they can’t afford the fees. It is insecurities like this that the pioneers of Fairtrade seek to challenge.

There are two key elements to the pricing of Fairtrade goods. The first is a stable guaranteed price which covers the cost of sustainable production. This only changes if the market price goes above that guarantee, in which case it will meet the new price. This goes to the producers and allows them to plan long term; many have been able to budget to send their children to school and build better housing.

The second element of the price is the ‘Fairtrade Premium’, which is put towards community projects such as schools, local hospitals, wells (such as Joyce’s) and other development projects. The use of the premium is decided on by the producers and benefits not just them and their families, but all those who live around them. The use of the premium is accountable to FLO-CERT (an international certification company that is owned by Fairtrade but which operates independently) to prevent corruption spreading through the system. With this focus on real people and their challenges, Fairtrade is often referred to as ‘people centred development’ or ‘development with a human face’.

This leads to the common argument that Fairtrade is flawed because it personalises the sourcing of products and doesn’t let the ‘free market’ work. However, it is interesting to note that the countries that talk the most about ‘free trade’ are the ones with the largest barriers within their own markets and providing the biggest subsidies to their farmers. Noam Chomsky once commented, “when people talk about capitalism it's a bit of a joke. There's no such thing. No country, no business class, has ever been willing to subject itself to the free market…the Third World is the Third World because they had free markets rammed down their throat.” Chomsky’s is certainly an emotive observation.

But why should a Manchester student care about the people who make our clothes and grow our food? Indeed, many cynics view this as a ‘white middle class guilt trip’ or a way to create a warm fuzzy feeling when you bite into ‘guilt free chocolate’.  However, first year social science student Elizabeth begs to differ. “There’s nothing wrong with feeling good about a buying a product. You know you’ve made an actual difference to someone’s life without patronising them. We all want to be treated with dignity and respect. I live off tea anyway and don’t notice any difference in price.”

There was a note of seriousness in Elizabeth’s voice as she went on to talk about the increase in suicides amongst Indian tea farmers. This is caused by the low price they receive, meaning they have to borrow to survive, leading to a cycle of debt and ultimately total despair. The ugly side of the products in our shops is often concealed from us; child trafficking in West Africa for cheap labour on coco plantations, the eighteen-hour days of sweatshops and unions silenced to the point of murder.

Ross Jones, currently completing his PhD on ethical labels, noted that the argument that Fairtrade has a higher price is often misplaced. “I always remember that one coffee from Starbucks costs about £3, whereas a whole jar of Fairtrade coffee is about £2.50. When you buy other products you are paying for the brand name which often means Fairtrade products are around the same price.” Even where Fairtrade is more expensive, this is not just due to a guaranteed living wage and premium for the producer. It is also a guarantee of safe working conditions, sustainable farming practice, reasonable working hours, no child labour, equal treatment for women and a voice for the producer.

Fairtrade is, however, by no means perfect. Unfortunately, sometimes the very poorest farmers do not benefit from the system as they do not have the capacity to join a producer group. However, unless there is a major change in the way markets work, Fairtrade remains the best hope for producers in the developing world to gain dignity and security in their lives.

Joyce’s Kasinthula sugar is sold to the Traidcraft plc on Fairtrade terms. It is then used in biscuits and chocolate bars which are bought across the UK, including here at The University of Manchester. This is the direct link of how an impoverished student has the ability to empower entire communities through a simple choice. In this spirit, the producer should have the last word. "We give praise to fair trade. I want you to tell people that they make Joyce, a sugar farmer, very happy when they buy our Kasinthula sugar."

Fairtrade Fortnight is 25th February – 9th March. Please see the Union page for details of events and more information.