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The concept of fair trade
The concept of fair trade
The concept of fair trade
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Fair Trade What is fair trade? Fair Trade is an organization that helps certify farmers get the right amount of money for their products. It was founded in 1992, the headquarters is in London, England, UK. Fair trade is a non profitable organisation. Without Fair Trade; the shops and the investors will get profit but the farmer won't. Fair Trade helps the farmers have a safe vision of the amount of profits they will get. LEDC Fair How Does It Help In places like Africa and Brazil where they grow cocoa beans the economy is very unstable and without the help of fair trade the farms don't get enough money to sustain them self. Such as the average age for cocoa farming is 45-50 and more and more people are looking for other jobs because the …show more content…
At the end of 2014, 129 small farmers organizations in 20 countries held a certificate to produce and sell Fairtrade cocoa. Helping representing 179,800 small-scale farmers. Sales weight of Fairtrade cocoa grew to 70,600 tonnes in 2013-14, year-on-year increase by 17%. These sales include a Fairtrade Premium of $200 per tonne for farmers, this helps them to invest in their businesses or local community. In 2013-14, cocoa organizations received £8.4 million in Premiums. Which 37% was invested in various projects and programs to improve productivity and quality. The Premium is also invested in community programs such as schools (Côte D’Ivoire has only around a 50% literacy rate), medical centers and clean running water. Read more about the investments made by cocoa farmers with the Fairtrade Premium in this recount.” Farmers in the 85,000-strong Fairtrade certified Kuapa Kokoo cooperative in Ghana have spent their premium on building wells for drinking water, building public toilets, and a mobile clinic to visit member’s
Unfortunately, not everyone involved in the production of this popular sweet benefits. Today, over 70 percent of the world’s chocolate is exported from Africa (“Who consumes the most chocolate,” 2012, para 10). While chocolate industry flourishes under international demand, the situation in Côte d’Ivoire in particular illustrates dependency theory and highlights the need for the promotion of Fair Trade. Chocolate has had a considerable impact on the country’s economic structure and labor practices.
Trade is the most common form of transferring ownership of a product. The concepts are very simple, I give you something (a good or service) and you give me something (a good or service) in return, everyone is happy. However, trade is not limited to two individuals. There are trades that happen outside national borders and we refer to that as international trading. Before a country does international trading, they do research to understand the opportunity costs and marginal costs of their production versus another countries production. Doing this we can increase profit, decrease costs and improve overall trade efficiency. Currently, there are negotiations going on between 11 countries about making a trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific
The documents of the slave trade case study contains documents, which were authored by individuals closely connected to the slave trade. Gomes Eannes de Azurara was a Portuguese chronicler who provided details about the early voyages on the west coast of Africa and the capture of Africans in the slave trade. The primary source that Azurara wrote was titled The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea written in 1450. The second primary source titled Practices and Contracts of Merchants was written by Fray Tomas De Mercado in 1587. The third primary source, The Travailes of an English Man, was written by Job Hortop in 1567. These primary sources aid in exemplifying how
Terms of Trade is defined as “the price of a country’s exports divided by the price of its imports” (Krugman, Obstfeld, & Melitz, 2015). Essentially, if export prices increase faster than import prices, then the terms of trade improve; reversely, if import prices increase faster than export prices, then the terms of trade deteriorate. This is because when export prices are higher than import prices, the terms of trade is higher than when the export prices are less than import prices (shown in equation 1 below).
International Trade Law Case Study Introduction International trade transaction is essential for the sale of goods with the addition of an international element. In practice, the seller and buyer are in different countries where the goods must travel from the seller’s country to the buyer’s country by various means of transports. In international sale of goods, they usually transit the goods by sea because of the international transactions. Therefore, contracts for the carriage of those goods must be procured between the seller or buyer and common carrier depending on different types of sale of contracts. Moreover, in most of incidences, the agreed goods are usually insured at a reasonable amount in case of being loss or damaged during the transit.
The movement particularly emphasizes on exports from developing countries to developed countries, with products such as handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, chocolate, flowers and gold. Moreover, coffee is one of the most widely traded goods in the world. For many developing countries, coffee trade is an important source of income. Producers can provide a better trading and improve terms of trade. Moreover, this allows producers to improve workers’ living environment and future life in general (De Pelsmacker, Driessen and Rayp, 2005).
Poverty stricken farmers often cannot produce enough surplus to feed and provide for their families. African farmers have survived for thousands of years, living in harmony with their environment, developing agricultural systems that work for their subsistence economy. With the coming of globalization and greater populations, and the shift to more of a cash-based economy, many farmers have not been able to keep up. They need to increase production in order to feed their families, and then sell some of the surplus to increase their profits.
Côte D’ivoire is a country in west Africa that supplies more than a third of the world’s supply of Cocoa. Due to the below-poverty wages for the farmers who produce it, farmers cannot hire the labor needed to harvest crop and therefore exploit children as the cheapest form of labor. With 35.1 percent of children working, the issue of child labor is a major concern in the country that needs to be addressed.
The restraint of trade implies that ‘’a man contracts to give up some freedom which otherwise he would have had’’. The autonomy of an individual is crucial in creating and maintaining contractual relationships. The law should not limit the person’s liberty to exercise their profession or skill. On the other hand, free flow of labour and resources is essential for a market economy to be functioning. Both principles are benefiting the community and the effort to reconcile these two conflicting principles by the courts should be appreciated. The courts are required to articulate the choice of a principle depending on the circumstances of each case.
Free trade can be defined as the free access to the market by individuals without any restriction or any trade barriers that can obstruct the trade process such as taxes, tariffs and import quotas. Free trade in its own way unites and brings people together. Most individuals love the concept of free trade because it gives them the ability to move freely and interact with the market. The whole idea of free trade is that it lowers the price of goods and services by promoting competition. Domestic producers will no longer be able to rely on government law and other forms of assistance, including quotas, which essentially force citizens to buy from them.
This means that each party can make choices. However in chocolate manufacturing one of the parties is often a large multi million dollar corporation and the other is a small farming company. Concern about the impact of this on small primary producers in developing countries lead to the Fairtrade agreement which Cadburys is a part of. By signing up to the Fairtrade agreement Cadburys agree to buy cocoa at a certain value. Last year Cadburys sold over 7 million chocolate products made with Fair Trade cocoa and this supported 65,000 jobs in
UNDP & COCOBOD, (2012): Environmental Sustainability and Policy for Cocoa Production in Ghana. United Nations Development Programme Project Document, 1 – 56.
Malawi has been no exception to dismal state of food security in Africa. Time and again, it had faced food crisis and has remained heavily dependent on food aid. However, the tables turned in 2005, with implementation of Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP) despite donor’s resistance. After 4 years of chronic food shortages, Malawi started producing enough maize to fulfil its national requirements in 2006 and even exported maize to other African nations in 2007. This success story was lauded around the world as Malawian miracle and Malawi was presented as a model to emulate for other sub Saharan nations.
Fair Trade is a simple idea that improves the living and working conditions of small farmers and workers. The Fair Trade movement promotes the standards for fair labor conditions, fair pricing, direct trade, environmentalism, social policy, and community development. Businesses wishing to adopt Fair Trade practices have to purchase certification licenses, which then leads to Fair Trade Labeling Organization (FLO) sending representatives to the farms from which the products are purchased and ensures that the farmers adhere to the procedures outlined in the Fair Trade standards. Products marked by the Fair Trade label contain 100% Fair Trade certified contents. Buying Fair Trade Certified products, consumers are helping the lives of famers out of poverty through investments in their farms/communities, protecting the environment, and developing the business skills for trading. The practice of Fair Trading a good way to not only help cause awareness but also improve the lives of the workers.
The World Trade Organization is an organization that defends trade interests. I think the problem is less that they exist. The problem is that internationally we've only got an organization that protects trade interests. Surely we need some kind of counterweight to protect human rights and the environment, too.