Essay

Fairness for coffee growers

By Alison Gray

On a small hill in a wide valley shining with greenery, a group of village elders are gathered in prayer. It is the southern Ethiopian coffee land of Sidamo. This, the birthplace of coffee, is also home to some of the highest-quality coffee in the world.

The elders pray for an abundant harvest, for rain and sun at the right time, and no pests or disease on their beans. They pray that their harvest will be enough to feed their families. Then they pray that the price they receive for the coffee will be a good one. These coffee farmers, along with other farmers throughout the world, are at the mercy of so much they can't control: weather, nature, and just as unstable and equally life-threatening, the fluctuating, regularly low price of coffee.

So who controls the price of coffee? Coffee gets its price on the international commodities markets. Price depends on a lot of things, but mainly on how much coffee there is in the world. If the market is flooded, the price goes down. If coffee is scarce, it will go up. Investors in these markets make and lose money and investments. For the farmers, the situation is more serious: Can they feed themselves, their children, keep their homes and livelihoods?

But the price set on the commodities market is a suggestion, not a rule. Large companies with their eye on profit give the lowest price they can. But not all buyers want a bargain that results in such a high cost to the farmers. Fair trade buyers go by other standards. When they buy coffee, they offer a price that covers the cost of production. Coffee bought in this way carries a mark called the Fair Trade Mark. This mark is administered by Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, an international body that sets the standards for the mark, ensuring that this coffee has been fairly traded. Different standards and fair trade prices are set for every product it works with. At the moment, there are fair trade standards for 18 different categories including tea, honey, nuts, fresh fruits, cotton and soccer balls.

Offering fair and stable prices, fair trade is doing nothing less than transforming farming communities in some of the world's poorest countries.

But there is one problem. There are more farmers who want to sell fair trade than there are people who want to buy it.

So we go back to the hill where they pray for coffee prices that allow them to feed their families. There is an answer to that prayer and it is in your shop. Look for the mark.

For more information, check the Web site of the international fair trade body.

http://www.fairtrade.net/

Shukan ST: Dec. 5, 2008

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