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STARTING tomorrow is Fairtrade Fortnight, an annual initiative that promotes a little more balance in the world. Fairtrade products, identifiable by their distinctive logo, are products traded through an independent system that ensures fair prices and fair wages for the farmers and workers involved. That means that individuals in developing countries, including coffee and tea farmers and plantation workers, aren't victims of trade exploitation . . . a symptom of globalisation and the selling of products too cheaply in western markets. The Fairtrade mark, seen on everything from bananas to chocolate bars, gives consumers the opportunity to help redress this imbalance and break the poverty cycle.
In 2004, Fairtrade sales across the world delivered an extra US$100m to producers in the third world. And with Fairtrade products only marginally more expensive than their counterparts, it requires little effort to make the switch.
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YOU ARE HERE: 19 March 2007 / tribune.ie / 2006 / 03 / 05
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