FAIRTRADE

This page last updated July 2008 and now ARCHIVED.

There's an excellent set of resources courtesy of OXFAM. This is the CHOKKY CENTRAL site. It uses Chocolate biscuits as examples of how the money spent rarely goes back to the growers, and looks at the issues relating to Fairtrade. You can go through a range of activities including a BIKKIE QUIZ, a VIRTUAL VISIT to Ghana, WHO GETS THE MONEY when you buy a chocolate bar and some Teachers' Notes.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/

FAIRTRADE products are now becoming more widely available in shops and schools. The CO-OP is stocking many of these products and taking a lead that other retailers are following. Fairtrade are running a postcard campaign where people can send a card to the CEO of Kraft Foods: one of the big 4 coffee manufacturers along with Nestle, Sara Lee and Proctor and Gamble. Go HERE for more on the campaign.

http://www2.marksandspencer.com/thecompany/trustyour_mands/fairtrade.shtml - M&S move over to Fairtrade coffee completely...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4788662.stm

There have been several articles on the 10th birthday of FAIRTRADE in recent years, including the BBC's GOOD FOOD magazine, as passed on by my mother-in-law (you can find Geography resources everywhere....) The article gives some interesting information:

• The first 3 Fairtrade products were CLIPPER TEA (which I drink...), Cafe Direct and Green and Black's Maya Gold chocolate.

• Britain is the 2nd largest consumer of Fairtrade products (Switzerland comes first)

• Between 2000 and 2002, sales rose by 90%

• It mentioned the Abahuzamugambi co-op in Rwanda, run by widows of the genocide

• Next time you spend £1.75 on a cup of coffee, remember that the farmers in Haiti or Ghana perhaps get 1.5p of that.

The general idea is that if a farmer is being paid a premium they are likely to select the best of the crop for Fairtrade.

COFFEE and CHOCOLATE

An article in the RSPB Spring 2005 magazine discussed COFFEE, CHOCOLATE and BIRDS.

DYING FOR A COFFEE ?

Article: 'Dying for a Cappuccino' in 'The Times' included extracts from a book about the Coffee trade by Antony Wild. The problem lies in the extremely low price paid to coffee producers. This has caused the loss of 600 000 jobs in the industry in Central America since 2000. The cost paid is less than the cost of production, so smallholders and farmers are subsidising consumers. The World Bank has suggested that 25 million small producers depend on coffee as their sole source of income, and each one supports an average of 5 family members.

• 70 million cups of espresso are sold per day in Italy alone!

• The US coffee market is worth $19 billion.

• Of the world revenue of about $55 billion, only about 13% goes back to the producers.

• Coffee is the world's most valuable trading commodity after oil.

• The 4 major coffee roasters are: Proctor and Gamble, Sara Lee, Philip Morris and Nestle.

• The US has promoted the exfoliation of Vietnam (which was deforested by Agent Orange...) with robusta coffee bushes, which has affected producers in other parts of the world. As Vietnam expanded production, there was a drop in the price of coffee. In 2001, Oxfam said that coffee had fallen to its lowest ever price in real terms.

For more on this area, see 'Coffee: A Dark History' by Antony Wild. Published on March 15th by Fourth Estate. Order from AMAZON. Why not go to the BOOKSHOP page first and click through....

Interesting recent letter published in 'The Times' was about the possibility of introducing Fairtrade to TOURISM.

Suggestion was made by David Brown of Bedfordshire:

"The visitor would pay a premium to guarantee higher wages for resort and hotel staff, bringing their standard of living closer to those of the holidaymakers. Cheap holidays are just as much examples of subsistence labour as are low food prices."

FAIRTRADE FOOTBALLS (New for November 2005)

These are available from a country called FAIR DEAL TRADING. They sell a range of sporting equipment and footwear which is guaranteed to be produced by workers who have a better deal in terms of the trade union and health benefits which they have. The company also pays a $2 additional premium for each ball that they purchase. You can read stories about the people who make the products. Order a pair of excellent NO SWEAT trainers too while you're at it! I have !

Why not get the students to use an idea from the Geog.3 Extensions support materials. They can produce a campaign aimed at a particular audience and purpose. In this case though, the target audience is the school's PE department. Why not try to get your PE department to purchase Fair Trade equipment (and get your canteen and vending machines stocking them too while you're at it...)

We use the PAPAPAA pack from Comic Relief. Comes with a DVD which is split into sections and has a range of DVD extras. At only £8 this is great value. You receive a pack of 20 large photos (which I laminated) and a series of videos: 35 minute programme - DUBBLE TAKE, DUBBLE TRADING and DUBBLE MOVES.

• The special features on the DVD include an extended version of some of the earlier sections, on COCOA and CHOCOLATE and some other features.

• You can see a preview of the materials and download / see some FLASH stuff at PAPAPAA.

• Relates to the popular (2 million sold every year) DUBBLE BAR. There is also the DIVINE bar and the GEO BARS. All of which are very tasty!

For those in Norfolk there is the FAIRTRADE IN NORFOLK website, which was recently publicised by my local NEAD group.

• Excellent BBC article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6426417.stm

• http://www.maketradefair.com/en/index.php?file=issues_dumping.htm# - an excellent link suggested by Tom Biebrach which has animated diagrams illustrating concepts such as DUMPING OF FOOD (link to an article in the Observer Food Monthly in May 2007)

OUR BIG FAIRTRADE ADVENTURE

Shown on Channel 4 in February 2008

There is plenty of information HERE.

Thanks to David Rayner who produced a PPT using these resources.

http://www.4shared.com/dir/2269634/1ccfcbe3/sharing.html - download the PPT (link may have expired)

http://www.channel4.com/lifestyle/green/on-tv/our-big-fairtrade-adventure/episode_guide.html

Channel 4 details on the programme

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/25/nethical225.xml

AND

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/politics/brassneck/feb08/fairtrade.htm

AND
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/02/24/scifair124.xml

Thanks to Stuart Hitch for these links

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