Fair trade products at top of the family's shopping list

Our decisions in the supermarket can have profound effects on thelivelihoods of thousand of small coffee farmers worldwide, writes Clare O'Dea

When you choose a brand of coffee at your local supermarket, you are making a decision that affects the livelihoods of coffee producers thousands of miles away.

Coffee is the second most valuable traded commodity after oil, but most of the seven million farmers who depend on it for a living are receiving historically low prices. Most, but not all. The minimum price paid by Fairtrade per pound of green coffee is $1.26, compared to the global market rate of around $0.50. The end cost to the consumer is about the same.

Fairtrade Mark Ireland awards a consumer label to products that meet internationally recognised standards of fair trade. The Irish retail market for Fairtrade goods is less developed than elsewhere in Europe. With the exception of Superquinn, there is no guarantee that you will be able to find Fairtrade Mark products in your local supermarket chain. A range of tropical commodities such as coffee, tea, bananas, chocolate, cocoa, juice, sugar and honey products carry the Fairtrade Mark.

Oxfam has four shops dedicated to selling fair trade goods - Rathmines and South King Street in Dublin, the Dublin Road shop in Belfast and a shop in Galway. Mr Michael O'Brien, policy officer with Oxfam Ireland, explains why the organisation has supported fair trade products since the early 1970s.

"The critical thing is to guarantee sustainable livelihoods in developing counties so that people can plan and improve their lives."

So how can you support fair trade if you can't get your hands on the goods? One thing you can do is ask your supermarket to consider stocking Fairtrade Mark goods and tell the store manager that you would be a buyer of such goods; www.fair-mark.org carries a downloadable supermarket letter that makes the point for you.

Fairtrade coffees and teas are also offered by many Irish companies and cafes. According to Mr Peter Gaynor of Fairtrade Mark Ireland, Fairtrade coffee now accounts for 3 per cent of the "out-of-home" coffee market.

Most of the main Irish coffee roasters now offer a variety of Fairtrade products and services to the catering trade. Many health and wholefood shops stock Fairtrade Mark goods.

The problems experienced by poor producers and workers in developing countries differ greatly from product to product, Mr Gaynor says. The majority of coffee and cocoa, for example, is grown by independent small farmers, working their own land and marketing their produce through a local co-operative.

For these producers, receiving a fair price for their beans is more important than any other aspect of a fair trade. Most tea, however, is grown on estates. The concern for workers employed on tea plantations is fair wages and decent working conditions.

To reflect such differences, Fairtrade Mark Ireland, with its international partners, approaches each product with a strategy based on common principles.

The Fairtrade Mark guarantees fair trading relations, including:

• a price that covers the cost of production;
• social premium for development purposes;
• partial payment in advance to avoid small producer organisations falling into debt;
• contracts that allow long-term production planning;

It also guarantees fair production conditions, including:

• decent wages (at least the legal minimum);
• good housing, where appropriate;
• minimum health and safety standards;
• the right to join trade unions;
• no child or forced labour;

A recent Fairtrade Mark survey found almost half of Irish consumers said they would be more likely to buy a product with the Fairtrade Mark than a similar product without it.

"The challenge is to convert this support into a reality by having more Fairtrade Mark products available for people to buy," Mr Gaynor said.