FairTrade – A Better Future

Lawrence Seguya is a coffee farmer in Uganda. He used to labour out in the sun doing back-breaking work for hours each day to harvest his coffee beans. However, the price he got for his beans was so low that it didn’t even cover the cost of production and so Lawrence decided it was not worth picking and he abandoned his farming.
Now he has a 3 acre crop of wrinkled, unpicked beans on wasted bushes choked with weeds. He has no income and so can’t pay for food, medicine, clothes or education for his children. He says “I’d like to tell people that the drink they’re enjoying now is the cause of all our problems. We grow it with our sweat and sell it for nothing.”

This corrupt system of trade is all down to the rich countries who dictate to the World Trade Organisation. The rich countries spend billions funding their farmers and when these farmers produce too much, surpluses are sold to poor countries at low prices which local farmers cannot compete with. The World Trade Organisation set rules under which the developing countries continually lose out and the result is that the poor countries become trapped in the poverty cycle and their people are deprived of a good quality of life.

But fair-trade is trying to correct this.
FairTrade is a plan to reduce poverty figures and encourage sustainable development; it gives hope to those who have been economically deprived by the current trading system. The Fairtrade Foundation is a non-profit, independent organisation whose principles include:
Fair prices – a democratically chosen guaranteed minimum price for produce;
Fair labour conditions – safe working conditions and a ban on child labour;
Direct trade – to eliminate unnecessary middlemen meaning farmers get the best possible price for their produce;
Environmental sustainability – preserving world resources and a ban on harmful chemicals.

The Fairtrade label on food guarantees that the farmers and workers receive a fair wage for their product and ensures farmers can feed their families and pay for their children’s education. By receiving a fair price, producers can avoid cost-cutting ways which would affect the quality. Fairtrade producers’ traditional farming methods can result in exceptional products.

Help Lawrence Seguya by buying Fairtrade so that Lawrence’s derelict bean farm can be returned to its fruitful and thriving former self.
Can he count on you?