Fair trade?
We are being encouraged to engage in all manner of ‘fair’ or ‘green’ thinking when purchasing goods but what does it actually mean? In terms of tea, those with the Fairtrade logo are being sold throughout the country; they’re promoted by Christian organisations and sold in stores from Asda to Morrisons, the Co-op and Sainsbury. Companies like Clipper have a long history of selling Fairtrade tea but new fair traders seem to be popping up by the minute. Meanwhile, tea magazine, a quarterly for people with a passion for tea and tea rooms, has been investigating what fair trade means for tea producers, with some surprising discoveries.
The magazine recently interviewed the Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation for the first in a series of features on fair trade as it relates to the tea industry. Tea producers wanting to use the Fairtrade logo must gain certified producer status by satisfying the Fairtrade Foundation that they meet various requirements. In terms of fair trade, though, tea is different to other commodities. There is no agreed fair price for tea which means in practice that someone wanting to sell tea to British consumers under the Fairtrade logo pays the market price for the tea they select from a certified producer, plus an extra amount per kilo on top of that. This means it is quite possible for someone to buy and sell some of this tea as Fairtrade tea and some as ‘ordinary’ tea. You might question the motive for such a practice and the genuine commitment to Fairtrade of any buyer operating in this way.
It might satisfy consumer demand for fairly traded tea but is it fair and does it make a meaningful difference to the people working in the tea industry? tea magazine has been following a tea tour in Sri Lanka, seeing first hand the conditions of workers on some tea estates. Whilst many of us in Britain may conjure up images of the poorest workers under dire conditions, this is not what we have observed. Tea estates visited in Sri Lanka have housing, educational and medical facilities for their workers. There are set minimum wages and maternity benefits. Yet these estates may well not produce tea bearing the Fairtrade label. Tea experts in Sri Lanka tell us the costs to gain the Fairtrade logo are prohibitive and feel monies are better spent directly for the benefit of the workforce.
So who is the Fairtrade logo there to satisfy? Are we simply easing our consciences when we pick up that tea with a Fairtrade label or do we genuinely believe it has a positive impact on those tea producing countries? If we really mind about the conditions people work in, is it enough to accept a logo or should we put in a bit more effort to find out more for ourselves? The Fairtrade Foundation say that anyone can say they are good and don’t exploit their workers but how much do we really know or care when we pick up that pack of tea? And what of the taste of the tea because a Fairtrade logo is certainly no guarantee of quality taste.
Posted on 01 April 2009. Comments (1)
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