Fair Trade is an attempt to reverse the process of exploitation within the global marketplace. Many producers in developing nations are unaware of their rights for fair and liveable wages. In developing nations, severe poverty has a profound effect on one’s outlook. Any employment, even one that is exploitative and unsustainable, is welcomed over the absence of any work to support oneself. Therefore, many people growing up in these communities feel powerless to complain about an employment opportunity. Yet, a function of Fair Trade requires buyers to educate producers about their rights to “fair pay”. This doesn’t open the gates for factory workers to demand salaries that can buy them the latest sports car or most expensive designer clothing. However, at the very least being able to purchase adequate nutritious food and basic over-the-counter medicine for a child with a minor illness should be a human right for everyone who works. Moreover, doesn’t it seem contradictory to purchase a product sold in the U.S. by an employee who is legally granted a minimum wage if the same product was initially produced by an underpaid exploited worker abroad?

10 great reason why we should all try to buy Fairtrade...

1.Workers and producers are empowered because they learn how international trade works.
2.Fairtrade growers are encouraged to protect their environment or go organic.
3.Fairtrade farmers receive advice and exchange information about growing in the uncertain seasons and conditions such as droughts increasingly being experienced as a result of Climate Change.
4.The Fairtrade price includes a premium which is invested in producers businesses or the community. How this sum is spent is decided democratically.
5.By buying Fairtrade you show that you care about those who produce these goods not just prices!
6.Buying Fairtrade sends a message to governments that people want Trade Justice.
7.There is now a huge variety of Fairtrade products of a high standard.
8.Buying Fairtrade challenges all companies to move away from unsustainably low commodity prices and unethical sourcing. It may also encourage companies to strive towards becoming Fairtrade themselves.
9.It is reliable – you know that products that bear the Fairtrade mark will  be of good quality and will have been produced in an environmentally friendly way by growers and producers who will have received a fair price thus helping to lift people out of poverty.
10.Shopping Fair Trade puts you in an active role in helping to mend the disparity between the developing world and our own.

Fairtrade Chocolate Anyone?