GO FAIR TRADE! Our Money Can Purchase Ethical Ways to Make Businesses
It’s common to hear the famous fair trade these days. When customers think about this term, they see a scenario of well-paid farmers or artisans doing fair business with their buyers. While that thought is true, there are more things to tell about this movement. As every movement has its beginnings, fair trade has its roots in people of the developed countries striving to import new goods. This means that corporations began to talk about ethical practices because otherwise, the exchange could result in exploitation. Although exploitation is still occurring, for many small farmers and artisans, fair trade is a door to respect their work. For example, Guatemalan cacao producers are embracing their culture proudly thanks to this movement. Now, the next step is us: the customers. We should care about it and know what we buy.
Fair trade began earlier than we think, it began in 1950. Everything started when Europeans and Americans were traveling to different countries and purchasing some goods and returning to their countries to sell them for a higher price. Over the years, they noticed that those farmers and artisans were struggling to cover the cost of their business. Because nobody was able to confirm that the profits went back to the workers, it clearly constituted some kind of exploitation. In the hope to end with this practice, Paul Rice funded the Fair-Trade USA movement.
The movement created a certification that consists of standards to help monitor fair-trade businesses around the world. The goal for Rice was to educate companies in the USA who sold goods like cacao, bananas, and tea in being more ethical. Through the movement, Rice was able to increase awareness of companies, so then they could educate consumers to use Fair Trade products. Thus, in developing countries, fair-trade ensures fair prices, better living wages, community benefits, healthy partnerships, environmental sustainability, and so on.
For example, Guatemalan cacao producers are being benefit greatly for fair-trade policies. Notwithstanding, there is a lot of exploitation and currently, more than 30% of the population lives in poverty; fair trade is heard increasingly around the communities. Not only with cacao, but with other products too. To give a specific example, the brand Ixcacao produces chocolate bars with communities in southwest Guatemala. They work close to the producers and ensure that the community gets involved in all the processes. Not only that, but also 10% of their profits are donated to a non-profit organization that supports local Mayan health, education, and sustainable alternative income generation programs. Like this, there may be a lot of more examples around the globe. The truth is while more companies are joining in these ethical practices, now it is the customers´ turn to reach for better consuming life.
As consumers, we have purchase power, which means that with our money, we can either support work-force exploitation or fair-trade companies; simple as that. By buying fair trade products, you guarantee that a product was traded in a more ethical way, so you support better working conditions, which helps to protect the environment. We already know that it is important that brands need to commit, but the awareness of our choices reflects that values even more.
Fair Trade Federation. (2020). History of Fair Trade in America. Retrieved from Fair Trade Federation: https://www.fairtradefederation.org/history-of-fair-trade-in-the-united-states/#:~:text=Fair%20trade%20traces%20its%20roots,lived%20despite%20their%20hard%20work.
Ixcacao Chocolate. (2016). About. Retrieved from Ixcacao: http://www.ixcacao.com/index.html#about
Shoenthal, A. (2018, December 14). What Exactly is Fare Trade and Why We Should Care About? Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyschoenberger/2018/12/14/what-exactly-is-fair-trade-and-why-should-we-care/#58447d117894
The Guatemala Tomorrow Fund. (2020). About Us. Retrieved from The Guatemala Tomorrow Fund: https://thegtfund.org/about-us/aktenamit-administrative-structure/
