Carlos Aguirre. Organization: Asociación de pequeños productores agropecuarios Tierra Fértil, Ecuador FLO-ID 28917
Fairtrade is gathering updates from around the world about how COVID-19 is affecting producer organizations, family farmers, and workers.
Fairtrade is gathering updates from around the world about how COVID-19 is affecting producer organizations, family farmers, and workers.
The flower market in Africa, especially Kenya, is facing unprecedented challenges due to the inability to ship their goods to Europe via commercial airlines, which have stopped their routes. As a result, workers -- whose livelihoods are already fragile -- are being laid off or furloughed with uncertainty. Similar issues are facing flower farms in Ecuador.
Retail sales of bananas, coffee, and cocoa are still strong, but overall product sales numbers are suffering due to the lack of out-of-home sales from cafes and restaurants. Worldwide, shipping containers are in short supply, making supply chain continuity difficult.
While it is easy to get overwhelmed with all of the uncertainty in the world right now, there are many “bright lights” happening amongst producer organizations and their members and workers:
And, within the Fairtrade system, we are acting quickly to ensure producer organizations are able to respond to the needs of their members.
Today, Fairtrade International announced that certified producer organizations can use their Fairtrade Premium more flexibly during this time. The Premium is an extra sum on top of selling price that producer organizations earn on every Fairtrade sale, and invest in projects of their choice to benefit their businesses and communities.
The changes, approved by Fairtrade’s multi-stakeholder Standards Committee, include:
The official interpretations and requirements can be found on the Fairtrade International website.
Fairtrade is reviewing the needs of producers and workers on a regular basis and will continue to determine how we can act to support them during this time.
This article was previously featured on Fairtrade.net and is reproduced with permission.
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