Fair trade at christmas

Chrismas is the time where shops try to encourage fair trade. As it is the holiday which involves alot of shopping, people tend to spend and seem to spend more when they know some of their money goes to a good cause. Those produces which sapport fair trade always have the fair trade foundation logo on it. The place to find alot of fair trade gifts are on websites such as: http://www.traidcraftshop.co.uk/. Websites such as Trade Craft work with the fair trade foundation to make sure all products are of fair trade. Anything can be found on these websites from clothes, jewellery, grocerys to houseware and holiday cards.

As well as that all produces show background infromation of where they are from, giving information of the farmer their family and their enviroment.

Examples;

The type of information they give:

Christmas Cake

"I am a housewife. I have a girl, three years old, Melreeze. The extra income means I can buy food and clothes for my daughter." - Pamela van Rooyen is a seasonal worker, harvesting grapes for Eksteenskuil Agricultural Co-operative, South Africa.
Fair Trade Fruit

Our fair trade sultanas and raisins come from the Orange River region of South Africa. The area is isolated and dry, as it is near the Kalahari Desert. Many crops are unprofitable, but farmers can get a decent income from growing grapes and drying them.

http://www.traidcraftshop.co.uk/p-9713-traidcraft-fair-trade-iced-christmas-cake.aspx

Colourfull Santa & Reindeer

Fair Trade Producer Details Arum Dalu is a small-scale marketing organisation situated on Bali, providing fair trade outlets for many different craft groups. Our product development team has been working with these groups to maximise their unique skills to meet the demands of the British market. Arum Dalu has some local social involvement, including assisting in tsunami relief programmes.

"Working with Traidcraft has given us the opportunity to give a continuous support to our producer groups over the years and to spread the Fair Trade message to our producer groups and friends around the world."

During the holidays most things are reduced in price to encourage buyers.

This picture is of a boy with the world map on his face. The boy represents the farmers and there families who work hard to make ends meet. The world map showing how fair trade should be all over the world.
http://lectionary.wolsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/world-fair-trade-day-logo.jpg

What is Fair Trade?

"The fair price is a solution. It has given us the chance to pay a good price to our farmers. Those who are not in Fair Trade want to participate. For us it is a great opportunity. It gives us hope."Benjamin Cholotío
[http://www.scotiafairtrade.com/fair-trade-quotes-ep-20-3.html]

The quote above sums up to me what Fair Trade is or should be. An example is cotton; those framers who grow the cotton spend about 6 months growing and maintaining it. This is not simple, the cotton is usually grown in warm countries such as India and in such countries there are things known as "cotton pests" they eat the leaves and destroy the crop. In order to save the crop, which is their only means of livelihood, they have to buy Heptachlor to kill the pests. Substances such as heptachlor are illegal in many European countries but are sold in countries like India and are sold at a very high price. In some cases the pests become immune to the substance and the farmer then has to spend more money to buy the newest killer substance. This not only effects them as they do not wear protective gear but once the cotton is picked there is still a trace of the substance which is then sent all over the world. Without fair trade these framers do not get the money they work for, as the companies from Europe themselves do not show up, they have representatives who are not fair. Fair trade gives those framers a chance to get the money they deserve to feed their families and continue to work.

Introduction

Hello my name is Saoirse. My blog is on Fair Trade world wide and about how the pruducers do not get the fair the amount they deserve for the work they do. My opinion on child labour, exploitation and forced labour and how it is a major issue still being tackled today.