Fairtrade growth brings benefits to 1.2 milion producers and workers
3rd September 2010
The Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO), which represents 23 certifying organisations and owns the Fairtrade mark that signifies that the standards underlying it have been met, this month published the second edition of its monitoring and evaluation report entitled The Benefits of Fairtrade. It is based on data from audits conducted in 2008, which indicated that 1 million producers benefited from Fairtrade in 2008. The 1.2 figure is calculated based on growth rates for 2009.
The data also showed that Fairtrade’s greatest presence is in East Africa, with 47 per cent of the 850,000 farmers in small producers organisations based there, and 38 per cent of workers in Fairtrade registered plantations.
Growth in certified producers exceeded 25 per cent in the Caribbean, Central America, Middle Africa and Southern Asia; the number of workers employed on Fairtrade plantations grew by 50 per cent in Southern Asia.
Coffee is the biggest product for Fairtrade certifications with almost half a million farmers around the world now receiving Fairtrade prices and premiums. Coffee producers in the system sold 68 per cent of their total sales volume as Fairtrade, while honey producers sold 82 per cent, and banana producers 71 per cent.
The report “enables FLO to build up a more complete picture of the certified farmers, workers and organisations and how they may benefit from Fairtrade”, said the organisation. “Ultimately, FLO wants to know if Fairtrade is making a significant difference to producers.”