Discovering fair trade
Developing countries deserve a fair price for their work
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Fair trade involves a wide range of merchandise such as tea, bananas, and cotton goods. Coffee beans are a particularly well-known example. (photo from Oxfam) |
Have you heard the expression "fair trade"? It refers to fair trade between developed countries and developing countries. For most of the junior writers, learning about a cafe in Hiroshima that offers fair trade goods was the first time we heard this expression.
To study this issue, we interviewed experts in the field and examined reports produced by NGOs. We also communicated, by email, with some Palestinian women who are creating embroidered goods.
Through this research, we discovered the fact that there are many children in Africa whose long hours of hard work enable us to eat the chocolate we consume daily in Japan. And, there are other people growing coffee beans who cannot earn enough income despite their best efforts. These situations forced us to reflect on the gap between the rich and the poor.
However, compared to Europe, the idea of fair trade is not widely-known in Japan. To promote this idea, we want to spread the word and raise awareness among the Japanese people.
New fair trade cafe opens in Hiroshima
"Cafe Paco", where customers can drink coffee and tea based on a practice of fair trade, opened last month in downtown Hiroshima. It is run by Peace Builders, an NPO with the mission of supporting developing countries.
Chie Fuji, 38, the manager of the cafe, worked with refugees in Rwanda and spent time with coffee farmers in Tanzania. Though coffee trees need to be replanted every 30 years to maintain the quality of their beans, because the selling price of beans has dropped, many growers cannot earn enough money to buy new saplings. As a result, their coffee beans are inferior to other dealers and the difficulty they have selling these beans contributes to a downward spiral. This situation led Ms. Fuji to promote the importance of fair trade. At Cafe Paco, a cup of coffee costs 320-400 yen and the beans come from farmers in post-conflict Rwanda, introduced by the Rwandan Embassy. Another example is the fruit tea, a product of Bosnia. "I hope this cafe provides the opportunity for people to think about the importance of buying high-quality goods at a fair price," Ms. Fuji remarked. (Risa Kushioka, 16)
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Hiroshima NGO supports fair trade
The village of Idna in Palestine has a population of about 20,000 people (about 2000 families). An NGO in Hiroshima, "Salam," supports Palestinian women and sends staff to Idna to help the women there produce and export fair trade goods.
Embroidery is a traditional craft in Palestine, but it is difficult to be adequately paid for this work. One reason is that handmade goods have a hard time competing against the mass production from Asian countries.
Salam leader Toshiko Mizumoto, 48, formed "Idna Village Women's Cooperative" in 1998 which now involves about 50 women producing embroidered handicrafts. Ms. Mizumoto guides the general management of their activities, such as teaching how to maintain the quality of their merchandise and conduct their accounting. She also helps with exporting their products to Japan. The Salam staff in Hiroshima receive these goods, sell them at a fair price, then return the profits to Palestine.
In employing Palestinian women, the cooperative offers priority to women who are experiencing economic difficulty, such as those who have lost their husbands. Saadia Selemea, 41, who has eight children from 6 to 25 years old and whose husband doesn't have a stable source of income, earns 1000 shekels per month (about 25,000 yen) for working about five hours a day, five days a week. She feels satisfaction in her work and the fact that it enables her to support her family.
Last month, Salam held a charity sale in Hiroshima and sold about 500 items such as coin purses. (Masahiro Mikoshi,14, Ryota Matsuda, 13, Yuki Sakata, 13)
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Figures for fair trade |
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(prices as of the end of September 2007) |
Japan spends only 5 yen per person per year on fair trade
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Based on recent statistics from Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO), we calculated how much was spent on fair trade products per person in each FLO country in 2006. In fact, Japan ranks lowest among the 20 countries making up the FLO membership, with just 0.03 euro (about 5 yen). The people of Switzerland, in the top position, spend 18.53 euro (about 3000 yen), more than 600 times the Japanese. |
One-third of the children in Cote d'Ivoire, the top cacao-producing country in the world, have never been to school
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According to research by The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in 2002, in the four West African countries that account for 70% of the world's entire cacao production, a farming family earns an annual income of just $30-110 US (about 3,500-12,800 yen). It has been estimated that one-third of the children of cacao farmers in Cote d'Ivoire have never been to school. (Rikako Okada,17, Aoi Otomo, 12) |
Fair trade began in Europe in the 1960s
Interview with Professor Nagasaka of Takushoku University
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Professor Toshihisa Nagasaka, an expert in international relations, studies fair trade issues. He told us that NGOs in Japan have been involved in fair trade since 1980, but only in the past three or four years has fair trade attracted the attention of ordinary consumers. Historically, fair trade began in Europe with Christians who sold handmade goods from Africa. Today, 60-70% of fair trade activities take place in Europe, where sales have increased 20% each year since 2001. Though Japan lags far behind Europe, Professor Nagasaka believes that sales are growing and may total 5.5 to 6 billion yen this year. He added, "When local producers generate funds through fair trade, they become empowered to build schools and factories. This kind of independence is the significance of fair trade." (Shiori Kosaka,12) |
Knowledge brings the world closer
Afterwards, we shared our impressions about fair trade.
One junior writer, who investigated the level of education of cacao farmers in West Africa, remarked, "If cacao doesn't earn enough income for their families, yet they haven't gone to school, it would seem difficult for them to find other work."
Another junior writer commented that the coffee at the fair trade cafe was "the best coffee I've ever had." One appeal of fair trade is the opportunity to buy high-quality goods from small and dedicated producers--instead of goods from mass production. If the high quality of fair trade products were shared more widely through "tasting stands" at supermarkets and fair trade festivals in Japan, these goods might sell well here, too.
In addition, by putting up posters and passing out leaflets where the products are sold, the public could learn how fair trade profits are used in these developing countries.
"Because it's fair trade and not a donation," one junior writer said, "producers should also be expected to consider requests from the sellers in regard to their products." (Yuki Sakata,13)
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