Fairtrade

The basic idea of Fair Trade is to improve the livelihoods of workers in the third world and help them develop their communities. Many of the products we consume, such as clothes and coffee, are cheap because the people that produce them are paid such poor wages. Buying fairtrade means paying a bit more – and that can make the difference between whether a family can afford to send their child to school or not.

Fair Trade is a set of internationally agreed standards that applies to products - which carry the Fairtrade Mark – and organisations, which can be recognized by the Fair Trade Organisations Mark . The Fairtrade story really began with the collapse of the coffee price in 1989. Before that an international agreement guaranteed the small farmers that supply our coffee a certain price. Today, 13 years after the first Fairtrade-labelled coffee was launched, 800,000 farmers in democratic co-operatives benefit from fairtrade terms. There are now over 2,000 Fairtrade products in this country ranging from tea, coffee and bananas, to wine and footballs.

The Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO) was established in 1997 as an association of 20 international initiatives that promote and market the Fairtrade Certification Mark in their countries. The FLO doesn’t just ensure a fair price - it encourages sustainable development, fights for the rights of poor farmers worldwide and campaigns for trade justice. As well as fair prices an extra Fairtrade Premium is then paid to the co-operative to which the farmer belongs for social and environmental development projects. This could mean a community being able to build a school or have clean water.

Find out how the unfair system of international trade that benefits big business at the expense of communities and the environment.

Manchester – Fairtrade City

In 2005 Manchester became the UK’s 100th Fairtrade Town. Since then another 140 local councils have joined the Fairtrade Town Initiative – including Chorlton.

Check out the Ethical Shopping Guide’s Directory of shops in Manchester selling Fairtrade goods. More and more supermarkets sell Fairtrade goods - you can find a list here. And for cafes and restaurants selling fairtrade see the Manchester Real Food Guide.