Responses to Fairtrade
The movement has always aroused suspicion on the right, where free traders object to its price floors and anti-globalization rhetoric. Yet critics from the left are more vocal and more angry by half; they point to unhappy farmers, duped consumers, an entrenched Fair Trade bureaucracy, and a grassroots campaign gone corporate.
Alex Singleton selects a nice quote from that recent Reason article, and looks creatively at alternatives to Fairtrade certification. One of the unfortunate side-effects of "ethical consumerism" is that it has a tendency to stifle debate, and allows people to settle on a particular brand (such as Fairtrade) and become entrenched within that position (see here).
I take a broader look and realise that if you wish to be an "ethical" consumer you also have a responsibility to become economically literate - and desire to understand what effects your purchasing decisions will have. This means going beyind a simplistic advocacy of Fairtrade products and a damnation of any others. Fairtrade certification is just one mechanism among many that claims to offer a solution to poverty. We must look dispassionately and rationally at them all.
Alex links to a documentary called The Bitter Aftertaste, which has investigated the claims of Fairtrade certification and found them wanting. The Global Posperity Initiative have also done serious academic work, in developing countries, assessing the actual effects of Fairtrade certification on coffee farmers. This evidence (as far as I can see) is ignored by Fairtrade advocates, but is enough to question the validity of Fairtrade as a universal, perfect solution.
In a post called Coffee that Helps Development Alex introduces an alternative to Fairtrade:
Café Britt is a brand of coffee from Costa Rica and Peru. The coffee is processed and packaged in the producing countries. That's important because it enables developing countries get more of the value of the coffee and climb up the economic ladder - and apparently because the green coffee has not been shipped around the world, the quality is better, too.
To shop for 100% Arabica in the UK click here. Enterprise Africa! are also on the coffee trail, and Karol Boudreaux is currently in Rwanda. Surely if "ethical" consumerism makes the country of origin important to you then here's a country we owe our support:
Rwanda has been growing coffee for decades, but only within the past five years has the focus of this effort shifted from growing ordinary coffee to raising the wonderful specialty coffee, such as Maraba, that is now available to consumers in the U.S. and Europe. Those of you in the U.S. may, for example, have noticed that Starbuck's began selling a special release of Rwandan Blue Bourbon coffee this week. Go try some! The coffee is excellent
Although I talk about Fairtrade alot, I don't want to give the impression that I abide by the Fairtrade advocates distinction between "Fairtrade" (ethical) and "non-Fairtrade" (non-ethical). I don't know whether Rwandan farmers are using the Fairtrade scheme, but if they're like Cafe Britt and consider it too expensive then that shouldn't prevent us from buying from them.
Keep an open mind on this isse - and send me empirical work because unlike others I am interested in learning.
Mar 18, 2006 4:07:27 PM | Economics
Good post, and you are right to say that we should keep an open mind on the issue.
I just wonder, however, if Alex Singleton's investigation into alternatives to Fair Trade came becuase he had an open mind, or because he is instinctively and ieologically opposed to the movement.
Either way, it's a good reminder that that we should look beyond the obvious and beneath the label.
Posted by: Quinn | March 23, 2006 at 09:04 AM
Alex has expressed uncomfort about (possibly) being overly critical of Fairtrade (http://www.globalisationinstitute.org/blog/misc/fairtrade-2.0-20051102122/) and the new Globalisation Institute report might well offer a different emphasis. I think that being open-minded means that you're willing to change your mind, and i've spoken to Alex about Fairtrade and do think he'd be willing to change position if he geniunely felt it was working.
What i've tried to suggest in this post, however, is that it's wrong to be either "for" or "against" Fairtrade, since that distinction is playing into the hands of the activists who try to paint it as *the* solution, and an issue of ethical legitimacy. We should be thinking that it's one possible alternative amongst many, and judge it accordingly. Alex is one of the few people who's presenting us with alternatives, and even if he's doing so from an ideological position, it's a service we should all utilise.
Posted by: AJE | March 23, 2006 at 01:11 PM
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