What is Fairtrade?
Unfair trade rules and an imbalance of economic power continue to lock millions of people in developing countries into poverty. Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers. It does this by:
- ensuring that farmers receive fair, sustainable prices for the crops that they grow. This covers at least the cost of production (and is never below the market price);
- improving working conditions;
- and providing a premium to producers’ co-operatives to be used to invest in the local community.
Fairtrade seeks to help transform trading structures in favour of poor and disadvantaged people by facilitating trading relationships based on equity and justice. It enables farmers to improve their position and have more control over their lives and demonstrates that there is an alternative to ‘conventional’ trade, which often results in unstable commodity prices and competition that puts pressure on the working conditions of the most vulnerable.
The FAIRTRADE Mark certifies that a product has met international Fairtrade standards and the Fairtrade Foundation is the independent non-profit organisation that licenses use of the FAIRTRADE Mark on products in the UK, and promotes Fairtrade.
