Canadian

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Bananas, Coffee, and Deserts

• Canadian World Issues
• www.CraigMarlatt.com/school

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Bananas, Coffee, and Deserts

• Fair Trade
• Banana Farming
• Coffee Producers
• Desertification in the Sahel

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Fair Trade

• Coffee from Kenya, textiles from India, tea from
  Sri Lanka, nuts from El Salvador, ceramics from
  Mexico, and chocolate from Ghana
• Many of the things we buy are grown or made in
  developing countries.
• But do the people who produce these goods get a
  fair price for them, and what are their working
  conditions like?

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Fair Trade

• For most workers, wages are low, there is no job
  security, and working conditions are often
  unhealthy and unsafe.
• When the goods they produce are traded for high
  prices, it is not they who benefit.
• So what can we do to help these people to get a
  fair reward for their labour? One answer is to
  buy goods that are produced and sold by fair
  trade organizations.

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Fair Trade

• Fair trade is an international system of doing
  business based on dialogue, transparency, and
  respect. It contributes to sustainable
  development by offering better trading conditions
  for producers and workers in developing countries.

• Behind the principles and goals of Fair Trade is
  rigorous international system of monitoring,
  auditing, and certification.

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Fair Trade

• The international Fair Trade system is structured
  to produce the following outcomes for farmers and
  workers in developing countries
• Fair compensation for their products and labour
• Sustainable environmental practices
• Improved social services
• Investment in local economic
  infrastructure

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Fair Trade

• Akasuwa, a 43 year old cocoa farmer from Ghana
  explains
• Why do I sell my cocoa to fair trade
  organizations? Because they are honest and fair
  and do not try to cheat us. They give me a good
  price and pay me straight away.

• They also share what they make with us and every
  year the farmers earn a bonus. So now we are
  better off and can afford to spend a little more
  on the children's school fees and other basic
  things.

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Banana Farming
Banana republic is a pejorative term for
describing a country with a non-democratic or
unstable government, especially where there is
widespread political corruption and strong
foreign influence. It was originally applied to
countries whose economies were largely dependent
on bananas for much of the 20th century.

• Nicaragua
• Northern Australia
• Costa Rica
• Kenya
• Windward Islands
• Kenya
• Tanzania
• Honduras
• Philippines
• Thailand
• India

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Banana Farming

• Growing bananas is hard work. It takes months to
  clear the land, dig holes and put in banana
  plants. After about six months, the banana fruit
  begins to appear. At an early stage the growing
  bananas are wrapped in blue plastic. This stops
  the fruit from getting damaged. It also protects
  the fruit against pesticides that are sprayed on
  the plants.

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Banana Farming

• After nine months, the bananas are harvested
  using a sharp knife. Bananas are still green when
  they are picked. They grow in clusters, which
  are known as 'hands'. A hand consists of 10 to 20
  bananas, also called fingers.

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Banana Farming

• Bananas are washed and labelled before being put
  into boxes. Bananas are boxed on the banana
  farms where they are produced. This prevents them
  getting bruised.

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Banana Farming

• Bananas are taken from the farm to a warehouse in
  a truck. At the warehouse they are inspected and
  sorted. Buyers of fruit in the UK want
  unbruised bananas and so very high standards are
  set. If the bananas do not meet these standards
  they are sold locally at a much lower price.
  After the inspection the boxes are closed and
  weighed.

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Banana Farming

• Bananas take six days to get from the Windward
  Islands, a small group of islands in the southern
  part of the Caribbean Sea, to the UK. They are
  stored in the ship's hold which is refrigerated
  at 13.3C. This cool temperature prevents them
  from ripening. When the bananas reach the UK
  they are ripened in special centres and then sent
  to the shops.

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Banana Farming

• On average each person in the UK eats 10kg
  bananas a year. A lot of bananas!
• If you buy bananas from the Windward Islands, you
  will help small farmers like Nioka Abbott. Buying
  fair trade bananas will also mean that the people
  who grow them get paid a fair price.

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Banana Farming

• Meet people who grow bananas in the Windward
  Islands. Find out about the difficulties they
  face and the benefits that Fair Trade has brought
  them.
• George De Freitas
• Nioka Abbott
• Regina Joseph
• Deryck Smart

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Coffee Producers

• Coffee is the second most valuable traded
  commodity globally - after oil, yet we producer
  countries are amongst the world's poorest. Is
  this fair trade?
• For coffee producers, this is so much more than
  being an issue of charity its one of justice.
• World production of beans can be broken down
• 65 Central and South America
• 25 Asia/Pacific
• 10 Africa

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Coffee Producers

• The Americas Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela,
  Equador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Jamaica
• Asia Indonesia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea,
  Vietnam, India
• Africa Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda,
  Uganda, Côte D'Ivoire

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Coffee Producers

• Read Waking Up to World Coffee Crisis and
  answer the questions that follow it.
• Also available online
• Facts About the Daily Grind
• Bitter Coffee How the Poor are Paying for the
  Slump in Coffee Prices
• Read the brochure Discover Fair Trade Certified
  Coffee to see what can be done about the coffee
  crisis.

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Desertification in the Sahel

• The Sahel is the boundary zone in Africa between
  the Sahara to the north and the more fertile
  region to the south, known as the Sudan (not to
  be confused with the country of the same name)

SAHARA
SAHEL
SUDAN
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Desertification in the Sahel

• Sahel
• Roughly a 500-km wide band in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Includes Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Mali,
  Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad.
• Sudan and Ethiopia can also be considered as part
  of this band.
• Rainfall is scarce in the northern part of the
  band, permitting only grazing.
• Entire region is vulnerable because of the
  potential for desertification
• this potential for desertification can be
  increased by climate change and human use

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Desertification in the Sahel

• The Sahel is primarily savanna and runs from the
  Atlantic Ocean to the Horn of Africa, changing
  from semi-arid grasslands to thorn savanna.

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Desertification in the Sahel

• Desertification is the destruction of the
  biological activity of the land that eventually
  leads to desert-like conditions

• 40 of the surface of the earth is either a
  desert or under desertification.
• Caused by deforestation, climate change, huge
  population growth, over-farming, and grazing.

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Desertification in the Sahel

• Using the Sahel
• Local farmers have been herding in the Sahel for
  thousands of years, sustainably.
• By keeping their herds moving, they ensure a food
  supply for their herds, and a life for
  themselves, in an area where neither could have
  existed before.
• They follow traditional herding routes, where
  food supplies exist. As grazing land becomes
  scarce, they move on.
• A relatively new problem in Africa, though, is
  geopolitical.

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Desertification in the Sahel

• Pre-Colonial Tribal Boundaries in Africa

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Desertification in the Sahel

• Todays Political Boundaries in Africa
• Now, when grazing land crosses an imaginary
  political boundary, nomadic herders must stop,
  where they used to continue on.

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Desertification in the Sahel

• Read Desertification A Threat to the Sahel
  and answer the questions that follow it.

Mali
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