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Is Fairtrade fair? The Adam Smith Institute’s criticism of the movement

From Mr John Madeley
Sir, — The Revd Dr Giles Fraser departs from the usual high standard of his column by an uncritical acceptance of the views of the Adam Smith Institute, (Comment, 29 February). The Institute has been expressing anti-Fairtrade views for years; its position is thoroughly discredited by the facts.

The “open markets” that Dr Fraser advocates have a price tag. That price is paid by the poor. The global market has plunged millions into destitution and bankruptcy. It has had every chance to work, but has exerted a dreadful human toll. Believing that it will contribute to people’s welfare in the long term overlooks the kind of the world the mainstream trading system is leading to — a world of dispossessed people where poverty is hardly likely to be overcome.

It is offensive of Dr Fraser to suggest that people who buy Fairtrade products are discouraging producers from diversifying “into areas of more profitable economic activity”. What are these areas? Poverty means that people have limited options for other employment. Fair trade means more funds in local communities, funds that people can use to increase their opportunities and lift themselves from poverty.

Fair trade does not distort markets. It makes markets work for the poor. Christians should surely be at the forefront of making a contribution to developing an international economic system that enables everyone to have a decent standard of living. Paying our neighbours in developing countries a fair price is central to that system, central to the gospel.
JOHN MADELEY
19 Woodford Close, Caversham
Reading RG4 7HN

From the Revd Richard Tucker
Sir, — The Revd Dr Giles Fraser should not believe everything he reads in reports. The Adam Smith Institute (ASI), from whose report he quotes at length, is a think tank that aims to promote “free-market economic and social policies”, not to seek the Kingdom of God.

In relation to the injustices of the current world trading system, Fairtrade is a bit like Jesus’s overturning the tables in the Temple: it does not have the power to end the practices it finds objectionable, but it functions as a prophetic protest against their unfairness.

The Fairtrade movement did not begin in the 1990s as a response to a crisis affecting one commodity, coffee (as Dr Fraser suggests, following the ASI report). Traidcraft, for instance, has been around since 1979. Fairtrade is an expression of the values of freedom, sustainability, peace, solidarity, dignity, and above all, justice that are upheld both in the biblical record and in Christian tradition. It is the more remarkable that it has evolved from an activist movement and moved into the market mainstream, drawing support from every major supermarket chain. With UK sales of almost £500 million in 2007, it is far bigger than a feel-good hobby for churchgoers.

The suggestion that Fairtrade benefits a few farmers at the expense of others is unfounded. It is self-evidently impossible for it to benefit every farmer growing even the particular crops most suited to its approach. Fairtrade organisations, however, promote and work with producer co-operatives, and pay them a premium for community development, thus ensuring that the community as a whole benefits.

It is perfectly clear that, however large its sales grow, Fairtrade cannot be a substitute for trade justice. It is a travesty of the truth to suggest, as Dr Fraser does, that the global market as currently organised works as a way of spreading wealth to the poorest. Current world-trade rules are framed to protect the position of wealthy and powerful nations; they work to exclude the poorest people and nations from sharing in any meaningful way in the increase of global wealth. In particular, they allow for the dumping on to Third World markets of foodstuffs and basic manufactures produced with the benefit of heavy subsidy in the EU and United States.

It is not my experience that “the Church does little to engage with” issues of global economic justice. Contemporary theologians such as Tim Gorringe are writing about these issues, as well as giants of an older generation such as Hans Küng and Philip Wogaman, even if the people in the pews may struggle with them. Rather than criticising, let us educate.
RICHARD TUCKER
St Columba’s Vicarage
280 Chester Road North
Sutton Coldfield B73 6RR

From Ms Sarah Sherlock
Sir, — If only Fairtrade customers would see the logo for what it is: an effective marketing device that appeals to our sense of guilt. It has undoubtedly helped producers who have traded this way, and it has made most of us aware of unjust practices. But it will not solve poverty.

Coffee is unfortunately a product that can be bought cheaply and blended so that it tastes similar to a more expensive product.

Ethiopia is home to the Arabica type of coffee with its fine flavours; so it has more right than most countries to find appropriate marketing devices to help sell its coffees.

Recently, Ethiopian authorities have adopted an innovative approach that is rooted in commercial reality. They have trademarked its distinctive regional types of coffee. They are encouraging all traders down the chain to take out a licence so as to protect the good name of its coffee, and dissociate its value from the New York coffee exchange, which sets the price of coffee worldwide.

The idea is that you will enjoy the taste of, say, a Sidamo or a Yirgechaffe from Ethiopia so much that you will buy more, thereby creating a demand for these coffees on their own merits.

Please do not buy yourself an expensive espresso machine that needs blended coffees. Stick to the simple cafétière or filter, use single-origin coffee, and you will be doing a great service to the producers who really need to raise their profiles and their prices.
SARAH SHERLOCK
Proprietor
Highland Coffees
PO Box 26307, Crieff
Perthshire PH7 3LL


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