Tomorrow is world fair trade day – a day that supports a social movement that works to pay farmers and craftsmen a decent living wage, facilitate direct marketing from farmers’ cooperatives and workers’ unions to markets and provide collective bargaining rights (alleviate poverty and promote sustainability) – something worth supporting!

Fairtrade in South Africa was established only in 2005 and there are now, according to the website, 31 certified producers in South Africa, mostly in fruit, wine grapes and tea. There are also 12 registered exporters of Fairtrade products based in SA [fairtrade.org.za]

The biggest and most successful Fairtrade sector in the country is the accommodation sector – possibly because tourism is our biggest market. See urban sprout for a list of Fairtrade accommodation. And if you want to support Fairtrade, this is the area in which we as consumers can really do our bit – shopping for Fairtrade products is a little difficult here, the only products I’ve seen have been imported, which kind of goes against my ethics of supporting local. [Fairtrade in tourism]

The object of Fairtrade is to work with and empower marginalised producers and workers to help them move from a position of vulnerability to one of self-sufficiency – both economically and with regards to security. The main intent is to enable them to become stakeholders in their own organisations and to play an active role in international trade. [wiki]

Of course no movement is without its critics but if you look at the statistics - In 2006, Fairtrade certified sales amounted to approximately $2.3 billion worldwide, a 41% year-to-year increase. While this represents less than one hundredth of a percentage point of world trade in physical merchandise, fair trade products generally account for 0.5-5% of all sales in their product categories in Europe and North America. In October 2006, over 1.5 million disadvantaged producers worldwide were directly benefiting from fair trade while an additional 5 million benefited from fair trade funded infrastructure and community development projects.