Fairtrade Facts

1
Fairtrade Facts

• Use this information to answer the questions you
  were given in lesson

2
Remember this?
1p
5p
4p
13p
7p
3
Getting into Debt

• Banana workers are not paid very much for the
  work they do. They cant do much about this
  because they do not have anyone to stick up for
  their rights.
• This is the situation for a lot of farmers who
  grow stuff that we rely on coffee, cocoa, sugar,
  cotton and tea.
• Because they get paid so little it is impossible
  for them to make ends meet. That means their
  children dont go to school, houses cant be
  repaired and water cannot be treated to make it
  clean.

4
More Problems

• Another problem is that the price of these
  products changes all the time. This means
  that sometimes farmers actually get paid
  less than it cost them to grow the things in
  the first place.
• On top of that, farmers sometimes wait up to
• 6 months to be paid for their work. And they
• can never be quite sure if they have been
• cheated out of some of their money.

5
Sowhat can we do?

• One way that we can help these farmers is to buy
  Fairtrade products. This means that the farmers
  have been paid a fair price for their product
  that never ever goes below what they need to
  survive.
• Not only that but farmers who sell their products
  to Fairtrade are given a bonus called a premium.
  This extra money is used by farmers to improve
  their communities for example, by improving
  their schools, building hospitals or buying
  better farming equipment.

6
Meet some farmers
George works for the company that exports bananas
from the Windward Islands as well as being a
banana farmer himself.
"St. Vincent is completely dependent on bananas.
Whereas other crops might only be harvested once
or twice a year, bananas give people a weekly
income. We depend heavily on being able to sell
at a good price to a good market. The benefits
of Fair Trade for us have been reduction of
chemicals on the environment. The social premium
has also really made a difference. We're thinking
about trying to open a nursery school and improve
the roads around us. Anything we can do to make
life better for the community, we'll try and do.
7
Meet some farmers

• Lucy Mansa is a cocoa farmer who makes her
  living by growing and selling cocoa beans.
  She lives in a small village in Ghana.
• Lucy and other farmers in her village belong to a
  cooperative called Kuapa Kokoo, which means "good
  cocoa farmer." Kuapa Kokoo is a Fairtrade company
  and pays all its farmers a fair price for their
  crop, in cash, and on time.
• The extra money that the farmers get from Fair
  Trade is put
• into projects that benefit the whole community.
  In Lucy's
• village a new well has been built.
• Desmond Mensah, aged 13, sees the benefits of
  Fair Trade.

"I'm very happy that we have this well I've
never seen clean water like this before. Before
we got this well, we had to walk long distances
through the forests in search of water, and even
then it wasn't clean. We want to sell more of
our cocoa to Fair Trade companies so that we can
invest in more things for the community.
8
Curious?

• Now you know the basics! If you want to know more
  then explore Fairtrade further at
• http//www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/kidsweb/food.ht
  m
• http//www.fairtrade.org.uk/