2,400 farmers from Maha-Gujarat sign up for fair trade certification; first fair trade labels to roll out soon
2,400 farmers from Maha-Gujarat sign up for fair trade certification; first fair trade labels to roll
out soon
Farmer suicides have been in the news for many months and despite the government's promises to make amendments, the suicides continue. In bleak circumstances like these, the fair trade initiative by the NGO Shop for Change Fair Trade comes as a blessing.
Shop for Change Fair Trade works towards boosting the concept of fair trade in India. Fair trade is a social movement that aims at helping farmers by increasing their sustainability. It ensures that farmers receive a higher and more deserving price for their products and aims at bringing farmers and buyers closer thus eliminating the middlemen.
Shop for Change Fair Trade is part of a larger fair trade movement that has seen immense success in America and the European nations. Shop for Change Fair Trade has drawn up stringent guidelines for certification for farmer organisations and buyers after which the retailers can carry the Shop for Change Fair Trade label.
Says acting CEO, Seth Petchers, "This model of fair trade certification is a successful model practised in Europe for 20 years. The original promoters of Shop for Change realised that the farmers in western markets were doing well and they wanted to implement this model in a developing country like India.
"We have developed a set of standards for agricultural products and for companies buying these products safety of work conditions on the farm, transparent and democratic functioning of farmer organisations etc."
Shop for Change Fair Trade will launch by working with cotton farmers. For this, they have tied up with farmer organisations like Chetna Organic working with farmers in Amravati and Akola and Agrocel, who help farmers in Surendranagar and Kutch. Says Ashutosh Deshpande of Chetna Organic, "Fair trade was a nascent concept in India. We used to export to foreign markets but the step to introduce fair trade in India is very good. The
farmers stand to gain a 15 per cent premium."
It might be a new concept but a good cause does not take time being adopted. Designer Rina Dhaka who used Shop for Change Fair Trade certified cotton for her spring collection, hopes it goes beyond a fad. She says, "I am a cotton growing farmer's daughter and I grew up seeing bales of cotton. The spring collection was primarily cotton and I asked Shop for Change to send me swatches and they were better than some of the stuff we were sourcing. The hardest part is to make a fad a reality. I hope my clients understand the significance."
Shop for Change Fair Trade hopes to enlist the help of student organisations to educate the consumer and encourage them to buy their products when they hit stores in early 2010.
Fair trade labelling organizations international (FLO)
consists of 24 organisations who work towards securing better deals for farmers and producers. they also own the fairtrade mark that can be used once all fair trade standards have been met
