Investments | How fair is Fair Trade?

Seldom has the world seen such a rapidly growing trend. Fair trade products are popping up everywhere. Gone are the days when you had to trek to an off-the-beaten-track shop that smelt of hemp in order to buy a fair trade woolly jumper or bar of chocolate. Now you just need to visit the High Street. 

Topshop, once a bastion of cheap and cheerful garments, sells fair trade tunics, bubble tops and racer-back vests. And Marks and Spencer works with more than 600 fair trade cotton farmers in the developing world, using their cotton to produce chinos (for men), jeans (for women), hooded tops (for the kids), and a host of other fair trade fashion items. 

Sainsbury's sells fair trade chocolate and coffee, and recently announced that the only bananas it will sell in future will come from fair trade producers.  

There are more than 2,500 product lines in the UK that carry the Fairtrade mark. Last year the country spent £290m on fair trade food, furniture and clothing - an increase of 46% on the previous year. Never before has fair trade appeared so tempting for both customers and retailers.

The aim of fair trade is clear - to get a better deal for Third World farmers.  Rarely has a cause seemed that worthy. Not only will farmers escape poverty but they can also send their kids to school and provide them with a better future.

But not everyone is convinced that fair trade is a good idea. Some critics claim that by focusing on achieving a fair price for poor farmers, the movement doesn't address issues of mechanization and industrialization - radical changes that might allow farmers in the developing world to stop doing backbreaking work and break out of the poverty cycle. 

Whether fair trade is more about "flattering Western shoppers" than transforming the lives of Third World farmers and ensuring stable price for the crops they grow is still to be seen. One thing, though, is certain.  In Britain, it seems we chomp through 9,000 bananas every minute, and if we all think a bit more before we buy, we could make a huge difference with just a few pence. 

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

You don’t have to go far to buy fair trade products. 

Sainsbury's will sell only fair trade coffee in the future. 

Sales of fair trade products in Britain increased by more than ½ last year. 

The idea behind fair trade deserves respect. 

There is no doubt that fair trade is beneficial for farmers. 

Some people claim that the Fair Trade movement fails to tackle some important problems of developing countries’ economies. 

The effectiveness of the fair trade concept is still to be proven.