Fair trade is about enabling producers in developing countries to live in dignity - and to do so from their own resources.
Minimum prices are set to cover production costs in order to ensure a minimum standard of living. There are also surcharges for future investments.
The Fairtrade seal, which certifies Fairtrade products, is known worldwide. The international standards of the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO) apply. In Germany, the independent FLO-CERT GmbH ensures that products bearing the Fairtrade seal are produced and traded in accordance with precisely these standards.fair trade
Fair Trade specifically promotes particularly disadvantaged small farming families and their self-help initiatives. The organizations are committed to the sustainable development of ecology, education and the advancement of women. The small farmers are directly and democratically involved in all important decisions of their cooperatives, particularly with regard to contacts with the management, but also with regard to the use of the additional proceeds from Fair Trade.
In the case of plantation products such as tea, oranges and bananas, the pickers are supported. They are the most disadvantaged links in the production chain, and fair trade helps them to act more confidently in international trade. The farms and plantations undertake to comply with minimum social and ecological standards. Representatives of the plantations and the day laborers form a committee, the so-called Joint Body, which decides on the use of the Fair Trade premiums. The producers undergo further training in the areas of production processes and marketing.
In addition, social projects such as schools, community rooms, tools, wells, pharmacies, school scholarships and much more are financed. In total, around 800 producer groups in 60 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America benefit from Fair Trade with the label; around 1.2 million small farmers and plantation workers are represented.
And we consumers in Germany benefit from the good quality of Fair Trade products and receive products that have been produced with great care, taste excellent and are not contaminated with pesticides.
In addition to fair working conditions, the Fairtrade seal should also guarantee freedom of association for producers/employees and a ban on discrimination. In addition, illegal child labor is prohibited on the plantations/factories.
Producers can expect stable minimum prices, long-term trading relationships and Fairtrade premiums. Ecology also plays an important role: environmentally friendly cultivation, the promotion of organic farming and the ban on genetically modified organisms are all part of the program.
TransFair is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1992. Its aim is to support disadvantaged producer families in the 3rd world and to improve their living and working conditions through fair trade. TransFair itself does not trade in goods. However, the association awards the Fair Trade seal for fairly traded products.
TransFair arranges market access under fair conditions for producer groups and workers from disadvantaged regions of the South. In dialog with its partners, TransFair maintains and expands the fair trade product range, opens up new distribution channels, markets the seal and carries out information, public relations and lobbying work.
