UK: Wales will become world’s first Faitrade country

In 2000 a small English town called Garstang became the first Fair trade town after its 4,000 inhabitants decided to draft and follow a set of requirements that would ensure and promote fair trade within the community. Today, Fairtrade Wales is campaigning to make Wales the first fairtrade country in the world.

Fairtrade guarantees producers in the developing world a fair and stable price for their goods, decent working conditions, local sustainability and more control over their livelihoods. How? Through the use of an internationally recognized Fairtrade mark that guarantees that products carrying the mark meet stringent production standards. These include that buyers sign long term contracts with farmers that they respect the stipulated fairtrade minimum price and that they pay in advance if required.

Welsh Fairtrade
These days fairtrade products are widely available in supermarkets and shops, especially in Wales. In 2004 Cardiff became the world?s first Fairtrade capital city and now boasts more than 150 shops selling Fairtrade goods. Claire Owen, the Sustainability Officer at Cardiff Council, said, ?Having Fairtrade status as a city recognizes the efforts and commitment of Cardiff?s citizens to Fairtrade, whether as retailers or consumers.?

Since Cardiff achieved Fairtrade status in 2004, some 70 towns around Wales have followed suit, which is why Fairtrade Wales thinks Wales may well become the first Fairtrade country in the world. Mark Richardson, leader of the Fairtrade Wales campaign, said: ?This would make a real statement about Wales? intentions for the future, and it is really about committing to Fairtrade over the long term. The campaign shows a commitment from the government and the people of Wales to make fair trade central to our purchasing.?

Out of the 22 counties in Wales, 14 now have Fairtrade status and the others are working towards it. Mr Richardson added that: ?So far we have achieved all the targets we?ve been set. The next stage now is to get together the evidence, and prove these targets have been met. I hope we will be a Fairtrade country in the next few months.?

Benefits to local communities
Jan Tucker has been involved in Fairtrade since the 1970s and now runs a Fairtrade shop in Cardiff. She said that an important benefit of Fairtrade is that the price paid for goods is unaffected by changes in global prices. ?Natural disasters, for example, can have a huge effect on producer?s welfare as it disrupts their production of goods. But with Fairtrade, the producers are guaranteed long-term stability?.

Another aspect of Fairtrade is the 10% social premium paid for products. ?The 10% social premium is given to the whole community where the product is produced. There is a democratic system in place whereby the community decides what to do with the money and have used it on things such as digging wells and building health clinics? axplained Tucker. In this way Fairtrade benefits the whole community where it is based and not only the individual producers.

Fairtrade schools?
The Welsh Fairtrade Schools Scheme was launched in September 2007 to raise awareness of Fairtrade in children. Danielle Johnson, school co-ordinator for Fairtrade in Wales, said, ?Before the scheme was launched there were lots of schools interested in Fairtrade, so it was welcomed. The schools now have a structure to follow, which is good because there are so many schools in Wales doing fair trade work.?

Ten schools in Wales that have been given Fairtrade status so far, and 300 schools are registered as working towards Fairtrade status. There are five criteria to becoming a Fairtrade school, which include teaching the children about Fairtrade, and promoting fair trade at all school events.

Danielle Johnson said, ?I have been so surprised by the great response I get from children; they are keen to support Fairtrade. Kids just seem to really care about people, whereas adults can tend to switch off. They get really excited about the Fairtrade scheme, because it provides them with a tangible solution to big problems.?

Local business vs Fairtrade
But not everyone believes that buying Fairtrade is the most important consumer priority. Top chef Mary Ann Gilchrist, winner of a Michelin star, said her restaurant in Llanwrtyd Wells doesn?t buy all its goods from Fairtrade producers abroad. She said, ?My first preference is to support local businesses, and my second is to buy Fairtrade.?

?I think fair trade is important as it helps people who have been exploited for a long time, and I do buy Fairtrade tea, coffee, chocolate and bananas. But this is because they can?t be grown in this country, and my first priority is always to support local and seasonal goods.

?In rural areas like this the farmers are an important part of the community. We use local honey that comes from hives about 20 miles away. If one doesn?t support these local farmers, the heart will be knocked out of the community.?

The best of both worlds
David Wainwright runs Tropical Forest Products in Aberystwyth, which sells honey around the country. In 1983 he went to Zambia to train indigenous beekeepers. He said, ?I was sent there to teach the farmers some modern farming methods, but I found that the traditional ways they were farming honey were already really effective and profitable. It?s a method using bark hives and they didn?t need to buy in any modern equipment or materials because they had everything they needed right in the forest.?

On returning to the UK in 1990 Mr Wainwright found that there was little market for imported honey. To create a market for Zambian honey Mr Wainwright set up his business, Tropical Forest Products which is still a firm supporter of Zambian honey and fair trade. ?You have to realise that selling their honey is the only source of income they get. Anything they need to buy with cash they buy with money from selling honey. Items like soap and salt, clothes and school uniforms so their children can go to school,? he said.

Mr Wainwright said that this Fairtrade honey also has benefits for the environment, ?The way the honey is made in Africa is much more natural than the way it is made in Wales. The honey is shipped from Africa, not flown, and it takes less carbon to produce than Welsh honey. This is because Welsh honey involves a much more intensive rearing of the bees,? he said. But Mr Wainwright doesn?t believe imported Fairtrade products are in competition with locally produced products.

?I?m a beekeeper myself so I don?t think you should have one or the other. The honey we produce here has a very different taste than that produced in Africa. The taste of the honey depends on the plants and trees where it is made, and there are many different varieties,? he said.

There are now about 3,000 traditional bark hive beekeepers in Zambia, and most of their produce is sent to Tropical Forest, which sells the honey in supermarkets around the UK.

The Welsh fairtrade future
With an ever increasing variety of food and other goods on the market in Wales, it is well on its way to becoming the world?s first Fairtrade country. But the campaign doesn?t stop there.

Mark Richardson of Fairtrade Wales said, ?Becoming a Fairtrade country is about promising to carry on committing to Fairtrade. We must carry on to help people get out of absolute poverty?.

More info:
www.fairtrade.org