World Fair Trade Day 09 May 09

World Fair Trade Day 2009 is a salute to the people and organizations who have dedicated themselves to making Fair Trade what it is today, a solution not an issue. Fair Trade is not just about poverty, it's a solution to poverty, Fair Trade is not just about climate change, it's a solution to environmental degradation and bad practice. Fair Trade is not just about protest, it's about change. Change that’s long overdue.

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Equal Exchange Joins Critique of Fair Trade Plantations

The US company believes that "Fair Trade" needs to mean "small farmer," and that the standards which apply to Fair Trade coffee can and should be the sole standard in tea as well as coffee.

A recent article in The Times (London, UK), "Tea workers still waiting to reap Fairtrade benefits," reveals the contradictions the Fair Trade system has brought upon itself by embracing large scale plantations into a structure originally created to benefit small scale farmers in the developing world. In the Times article tea workers in Kenya claim to have been denied the promised benefits of Fair Trade and "suspect that the scheme is being used to make estates appear socially responsible as demand increases in the West for Fairtrade-labelled goods."

[Read more: Equal Exchange]
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Fairtrade tea building futures

Watch how Fairtrade has helped improving the lives of tea workers and their families in India.

[To wath the film on FLO Website]
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Fair Trade Centre financed new standards for Fairtrade Soybean

Following a long term project to enable Fairtrade standards to be extended to include pulses and soybean, FLO has now approved the Soybean and Pulses Standards for Small Farmer Organizations. This will enable small-scale producers of pulses such as haricot bean, chickpea, red kidney, lentil as well as soybean to apply for Fairtrade certification.

The introduction of these Fairtrade standards is the result of an extensive process of research and consultation, led by FLO, Max Havelaar Belgium and the Fairtrade Foundation in line with ISEAL best-practice for standard-setting. In addition to research into the cost of production for small farmers of soybean and pulses in several producing regions, FLO has led direct consultations with producer organizations and programs supporting sustainability in production around the world.

Fair Trade Centre of the Belgian Technical Cooperation financed the development of Soybean Fair Trade standards for an amount of € 16.000.

[Read more about the standards: FLO]
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Sustainable Trade

Ghana undertakes to control timber exports to EU

At the beginning of September, Ghana signed a cooperation agreement with the European Union to combat illegal trading in timber felled in its forests.

[Read more: The Courier]
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Malawi's green gold: small and medium scale producers

Malawi's green gold: Challenges and opportunities for small and medium forest enterprises in reducing poverty.
Published: Nov 2008 - IIED

This study surveys a thriving, albeit largely informal, SMFE sector in Malawi. It looks in detail at four promising subsectors: timber, cane furniture, tree fruit juices and woodcarving. This adds to, but does not investigate further, the vast SMFE fuelwood and charcoal trade, Malawi’s third largest industry. It describes the challenges of growing pressure on the forest resource, weak capacity in government services, and disorganised small enterprises. But it also highlights some opportunities, simple steps that could make government forest services more SMFE friendly, and ways of organising SMFEs to better meet market demand while sustaining the resource.

[Download the Report: IIED]
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Waste Coffee Grounds Offer New Source Of Biodiesel Fuel

Researchers in Nevada are reporting that waste coffee grounds can provide a cheap, abundant, and environmentally friendly source of biodiesel fuel for powering cars and trucks.

[Read more: Science Daily]
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Building Sustainable Organic Sectors

The objective of this study as formulated by IFOAM is to give guidance for the development of dynamic organic sectors, with a focus on developing countries. The report includes ten country case studies of which five are from developing economies, two from emerging economies or economies in transition, and three are from more developed economies. Based on the case studies and other experience, recommendations are made.

Trade and Development

Displaced banana farmers in Jamaica get EU assistance

The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and the European Union (EU) on January 7, signed 11 small grant contracts amounting to $11 million, to help former workers in Jamaica's banana industry undertake alternative business ventures.

The grants represent the final component of a $400 million contract, which was signed between RADA and the European Commission in 2007, for the overall management and coordination of the diversification component of the EU Banana Support Programme (EUBSP).

[Read more: Carabbean Net News]
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Small-scale producers in modern agrifood markets

Inclusive Business in Agrifood Markets: Evidence and Action
This report is based on proceedings of the conference 'Inclusive Business in Agrifood Markets: Evidence and Action' - held in Beijing, 5-6 March 2008. Over 130 participants from 31 countries, representing farming, policy, agrifood business, research and civil society met to assess how modernization of the food system can include and benefit small-scale farmers.

[Read more: IIED]
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EPAs and the future of the ACP Group

This paper discusses the impact of the EPA negotiations and conclusion of (interim) agreements on the cohesion and role of the ACP Group in the future. It also considers two other important dates in the CPA which also call the ACP Group to examine its future role: the CPA revision in 2010 and the CPA expiry in 2020.
Background Note for the 6th ACP Summit of Heads of State and Government 2-3 October, Accra, Ghana

[More info : ECDPM]
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ACP wants early 2009 talks with EU over EPAs

Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Ministers have called for high level consultations with the EU “at the earliest opportunity in 2009” to address concerns with their European Union (EU) counterparts over European Partnership Agreements (EPAs). Talks on these Free Trade Agreements (EPA) between the EU and ACP regions are ongoing.

[Read more: The Courier]
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