Fact Sheet: Expanding Economic Opportunities Through Free and Fair Trade

"Expanding Markets Is Good For American Workers And Helps Keep Businesses Growing"

The White House Press Release

Today, President Bush highlighted the importance of trade in promoting prosperity and freedom in the United States and around the world. At the White House, the President discussed a display of products from businesses that would benefit from trade liberalization, and urged Congress to approve our free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. The companies represented at the White House have created jobs, increased prosperity, and proven that they can compete in the global market. In order for these and other U.S. businesses to continue growing, the government needs to keep working to reduce foreign trade barriers, enabling companies to compete on a level playing field.

Approval and implementation of the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement would eliminate tariffs on goods produced by several of the companies attending today's event, including:

- Case New Holland, a world leader in the manufacturing of agricultural and construction equipment, whose Fargo, North Dakota, plant exported about 48 percent of its production in 2007. The Case IH tractor faces a $15,500 tariff from Colombia.
- Cannondale Bicycle Corporation’s bicycles face a 20 percent tariff.
- Harley Davidson’s union-made Ultra Classic Electra Glide motorcycle, which faces a 2percent tariff.
- Mack Truck’s Mack Granite Cement Mixer, which faces a tariff of 15 percent.
- John Deere’s Iowa-manufactured round baler, which faces a 10 percent tariff.

Failure To Approve The U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Would Be Bad For American Workers, Farmers, Ranchers, And Business Owners

Earlier this year, President Bush sent Congress a bill to implement the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement. Unfortunately, rather than hold the up or down vote that Congress committed to, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi chose to block it. If this decision stands, it will kill the agreement and hurt American small business owners and workers.

Approving the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement would strengthen America's economy and level the playing field for U.S. businesses and workers. Today, over 90 percent of Colombia's exports to the United States enter duty-free, but American businesses that export to Colombia – including nearly 8,000 small and mid-sized firms – face tariffs of up to 35 percent on industrial and consumer products and much higher tariffs on many agricultural goods. If Congress approves the Colombia free trade agreement, upon entry into force, it would immediately eliminate tariffs on more than 80 percent of American exports of industrial and consumer goods, on more than half of U.S. agricultural exports, and, over time, on 100 percent of American goods exports.

Congress Should Also Help Sustain Economic Growth By Approving Our Pending Free Trade Agreements With Panama And South Korea

Last year, exports made up more than 40 percent of America's total economic growth. It is estimated that more than 5.5 million American jobs are related to manufacturing exports. At a time when our economy is facing challenges, our commitment to trade is more important than ever.

The free trade agreement with Panama will increase U.S. access to one of the fastest-growing economies in Central America and support a key democratic partner. In 2007, Panama and the United States exchanged more than $4 billion worth of goods – nearly twice as much as just four years ago. The U.S.-Panama free trade agreement will build on this vibrant trade relationship by immediately eliminating tariffs on 88 percent of U.S. industrial and consumer goods exported to Panama and on more than 60 percent of U.S. agricultural exports.

The free trade agreement with South Korea (KORUS FTA) has the potential to boost annual U.S. exports by more than $10 billion while cementing ties with a vital ally. The U.S. International Trade Commission estimates the reduction of Korean tariffs and tariff-rate quota provisions on goods market access alone would add $10-12 billion to annual U.S. GDP.

- South Korea is our seventh-largest trading partner and the KORUS FTA is the most economically significant FTA that the United States has signed in 15 years. The KORUS FTA will further open a growing market of 49 million consumers to the full range of U.S. goods and services. South Korea has a vibrant and rapidly growing economy and is located at the crossroads of world's most dynamic economic region.

- The KORUS FTA will eliminate tariffs on 94 percent of trade in industrial goods within three years, and nearly two-thirds of U.S. agriculture exports to Korea will become duty free immediately. The free trade agreement will also address a range of non-tariff barriers, increase transparency in Korea's regulatory processes, and provide strong, enforceable protections for U.S. investors. The agreement will strengthen Korea's economic reforms that have helped it become a prosperous economy and vibrant democracy as well as sustain the growth of trade and investment opportunities for the mutual benefit of both countries.

- The KORUS FTA will energize the U.S.-Korean alliance that was forged in war more than a half century ago by further integrating our economies and creating opportunity for the people in both our countries.

# # #

Leading article: Fair trade is growing – and working

The Independent (UK)
Saturday, 24 May 2008

Fair-trade products will never be the answer to the structural inequalities in the relationship between rich nations and the developing world. But the latest figures show that fair trade is mushrooming all around the world – nowhere more than in the UK where sales of fairly traded goods last year rose by a staggering 70 per cent. What was just two decades ago a prophetic alternative espoused by sandal-wearing beardies now has global sales worth more than £1.6bn. Its projects today touch the lives of seven million people, for the better, across the developing world.

This is an extraordinary story, and a good news one. Fairly traded products 20 years ago were available only from pioneer organisations such as Traidcraft. There was a limited number of products, starting with dodgy-tasting Nicaraguan coffee. And the only people who bought them were political and church activists. Today the Fairtrade mark has turned supermarkets into the driving engine of fair trade; all bananas sold in Sainsbury's are now Fairtrade, so are all sweet in Morrisons, and much more. The quality of products is high, often of gourmet standard, and the range has broadened to include fresh fruits, juices, flowers, wine and cotton. Sales topped £493m in the UK alone last year. They were up 46 per cent in the United States. The market is growing rapidly elsewhere.

There have been numerous signals of the maturing of the movement. Tate & Lyle announced this year that it was to convert its entire retail sugar range to Fairtrade in the largest fair-trade switch every made by a UK company. Retailers such as B&Q have gone to great lengths to set up support groups to enable its suppliers to meet fair trade's higher standards. A fair-trade site is being launched by eBay. And fair trade has been dignified with an ideological attack by the Adam Smith Institute, though most of its arguments were specious or badly informed.

The dichotomy of "free trade versus fair trade" is a false one. If poor nations are to be enabled to trade their way out of poverty, big changes have to be made before the faltering Doha trade talks finally collapse next month. Free trade is better than protectionism but free trade is not on offer at present, only trade weighted towards the rich. Fair trade is a useful corrective in that – as seven million people in 58 developing countries will testify.

Worldwide Fairtrade sales up 47 per cent

By Linda Rano
ConfectionaryNews.com

23-May-2008 - Worldwide consumers spent over €2.3bn on Fairtrade certified products in 2007, a 47 per cent increase on the previous year, according to figures from Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO).

Total sales volume for sugar rose from 2000 metric tonnes (MT) in 2004 to over 14000 MT in 2007.

Total sales volume for cocoa had been rising consistently from over 4000 MT in 2004 to just under 8000 MT in 2006 but slipped to just over 7000MT in 2007.

These figures largely complement those published earlier this month by the UK Fairtrade Foundation, which suggested that 70 per cent of UK consumers recognise the Fairtrade mark in 2008, compared to 57 per cent last year.

Awareness of Fairtrade sugar among the UK public had doubled from 6 per cent in 2007 to 12 per cent in 2008. Awareness of Fairtrade chocolate had risen from 24 per cent of survey respondents in 2007 to 32 per cent this year.

Fairtrade Sugar and Tate & Lyle

Tate & Lyle announced in February this year that it was to convert its entire retail sugar range to Fairtrade in the largest fair-trade switch every made by a UK company.

The company said that it would first convert its Granulated White Cane Sugar line to the scheme. But by the end of next year it hopes to have converted all its retail cane sugar range to Fairtrade.

Tate & Lyle worked in partnership with the Fairtrade Foundation to help cane farmers in Belize to meet Fairtrade standards.

Candy-makers and Fairtrade sugar

Candy-makers are using Fairtrade sugar to earn the Fairtrade mark. For example, Buchanans of Scotland is advertising ten Fairtrade products on its website made, the company says, from sugar produced by the Kasinthula Cane Growers Association, Malawi. Morrisons own-brand sweets from Fairtrade sugar were sourced from the same Association.


A spokesperson at the Fairtrade Foundation confirmed earlier to ConfectioneryNews.com that the take up for candy had been slow to start but an increasing number of products are now beginning to carry the Fairtrade mark.

Fairtrade growth

FLO puts the growth of Fairtrade in 2007 down to an expansion in existing markets and the opening of new ones.

According to the organisation, the value of sales in Fairtrade's biggest markets, the UK and US, grew by 72 per cent and 46 per cent respectively.

The fastest growing markets were Sweden and Norway with increases of 166 per cent and 110 per cent respectively. The highest per capita consumption in the world was in Switzerand where consumers spent an average of €20.8 on Fairtrade products in 2007.

New products were launched in different markets increasing consumers' choice.

Also companies in countries where there is no Fairtrade Labelling Initiative were able to sell products with the Fairtrade Certification Mark for the first time. "The development of new local markets is great news both for Fairtrade certified producers and for consumers in countries where Fairtrade still does not have a strong presence," said FLO.

Rob Cameron, CEO of FLO commented: "The phenomenal growth of Fairtrade demonstrates the groundswell of consumer support for Fairtrade. With global sales worth over 2.3bn euros Fairtrade has come of age."

Certified organic, fair-trade free riders

If you support the standards but not the certifiers, then what?

Posted by JMG (Guest Contributor) at 3:40 PM on 22 May 2008
grist environmental news & commentary

At my local Saturday farmers market, I stopped to buy some coffee at the local roaster's booth. I was eying the wares when I noticed that the spendy bags of coffee ($9 for 12 oz.) labeled "Fair Trade" didn't have the any independent certification of that fact.

I asked the guy behind the booth, and he said, "Well, it is fair trade coffee, and the owners pay the fair trade price, but they don't want to pay for the label mark because it just pays people here in the U.S. -- it just raises the price of a bag of beans, but none of that money goes to the farmers."

So I asked, "But how can the system work to certify fair trade buyers if consumers don't pay for that assurance? I'm sure you're actually paying a fair price, but what keeps the next guy and the supermarket from saying the same thing? Besides, what does it add to the price of a bag, anyway?"

He repeated his bit about the owners not wanting to spend the money on certifiers, and he said that going the certified route would have added a dime to every bag sold.

I said that I would have been willing to pay a dime more for a certified bag, and that I hoped he would tell the owners that, unless they could come up with a way to have truly independent but in-country certification (so the money spent on certifying compliance with fair trade practices went to the country of origin), I wasn't buying their beans or their argument about where the money goes.

I've been thinking about it more this week, while I drink some Bolivian certified organic, shade grown, certified Fair Trade coffee.


I pay a premium for these many assurances that I look for in coffee. What leads a roaster (or, by extension, any other seller) who claims to support the various practices that those assurances embody to decide that you don't need the independent certification -- that it's OK, in other words, to simply claim the name (fair trade, organic, etc.), charge the same fancy prices as the certified guys, but not pay the certifiers?

How long will certification of fair trade practice survive if others adopt the same approach?

I tend to run into this more with organic, where the small farms in my area will say that, "Well, we practice organic but we can't afford the certification." I tend not to have as much of a problem with that, although the issue is the same at bottom -- probably because I can go look at the farms. The grower is right in front of me, and risking his whole business if he tells me he's using only organic practices but he's then seen with a big trailer tankful of ammonium nitrate fertilizer on his land.

Not so with imported luxury products like coffee beans -- I know the guy in front of me didn't grow them, and even he paid the same wholesale price as the certified organic sellers, how do I know that the actual growers ever saw any of that money?

Of course, you can question whether any certification might be bogus -- perhaps the fair trade mark is available to anyone with the right bribe ...

I'd be interested in knowing what the foodies here think -- is there anything to my local roasters' argument, or is he just a free rider trying to ride the fair trade cachet without paying for the ride?

[Note: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I also may be more willing to let local folks slide on organic certification because Big Brother at USDA, in between attempts to destroy any real meaning to the word organic, has forbidden anyone to use the mark without paying the fee anyway, so now we really do have the odd situation where the local grower who practices fully organic farming is legally prevented from telling me that unless he's willing to pay the most anti-sustainable-farming organization in the world -- the U.S. government -- for the privilege.]

12 Comments - scroll down

Fair Trade gets Kennedy nod at Riverkeeper Shadfest

Bobby Kennedy Jr. seen buying fair trade crafts from Cecilia and Peter Durkin Riverkeeper Shadfest Saturday, May 17 (Cecilia Dinio Durkin)

Cecilia Dinio Durkin • Reader Submitted • May 21, 2008
PoughkeepsieJournal.com

Bobby Kennedy Jr. stopped by Poughkeepsie residents' Cecilia and Peter Durkin's booth at first ever fair trade/green market tent at Riverkeeper Shadfest Saturday, May 17 held at Boscobel in Garrison, NY.

Kennedy bought several ostrich eggshell beaded bracelets which he thought looked a lot like wampum. He was happy to help support the efforts of the Durkins' who export crafts made by women in Botswana, Africa and other parts of the world that are ecologically sensitive income generation for thousands of women and their communities.

This year's Riverkeeper Shadfest added the Green Market which several fair trade vendors took part in with the hopes to bringing something new and fresh to the 19 year old festival. "I have been trying to get Bobby to Women's Work in Cold Spring for several years now and I was glad he could finally see and apparently loved the genuine crafts we are selling." said Cecilia Dinio Durkin, store owner and board member of Fair Trade Federation. "Fair Trade should be recognized not only for the good work we do to try to alleviate poverty, but since fair trade insists that craft production be environmentally sustainable, the crafts and farming falls in step with the green movement."

Think about chocolate slaves

By Amy Fedrau, Grade 11 student at Sardis Secondary
© Chilliwack Times 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008

There was no doubt where the children in Mali, Africa were disappearing to.

The police stand silently, looking at the empty train station thinking about how on this hot, humid day, the children were persuaded into leaving their homes for Ivory Coast.

Ivory Coast is the leading supplier of cocoa, according approximately 50 per cent of global production. The low price of cocoa and lower labour costs force farmers to use children on their farms. Ivory Coast in West Africa has children working as slaves under "the worst forms of child labour" on cocoa farms.

More than 200,000 children are slaves in West and Central Africa. More than 109,000 children are slaves to Ivory Coast's cocoa industry. The neighbouring countries of Ivory Coast have people luring children to come with them where they promise them they'll have a shelter, food, good pay, and even advantages like a bicycle.

Children go with them, but never get anything they were promised. Instead, they suffer frequent beatings, long intense hours in the melting sun and are forced to work with dangerous tools and poisonous pesticides. When they fall down carrying sacks of cocoa beans, they are whipped until they start working again. What lottery did we win, that we aren't slaves?

Ivory Coast is the major cocoa supplier for Nestlé. When Nestlé sells their chocolate, it doesn't cross the customers' mind that their treat was made by slaves.

The United States spends about $13 billion per year on chocolate, with an average of 12 pounds per person per year. That's a lot of chocolate, which means there is an exceeding number of slaves working to give everyone their delicious treat.

Nestlé signed the "Cocoa Protocol" in 2001, to ensure that cocoa was being grown responsibly. By 2005, the company had failed to fulfill it's promise. The chance of freeing these slaves had disappeared.

Many people think of slaves and child labour as something of the past. What they don't realize is that reports show slavery in the 21st century is the highest it has ever been. Two of five children in Africa are working under 15 years old. Ivory Coast is no exception.

People use the excuse, "it's so far away" to try to justify the guilt in their minds that they can't do anything about this problem.

When Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was being filmed, extra chocolate bars were needing to be produced. They were challenged to make slave free chocolate, but Nestlé didn't like the idea.

Child labour is not a fad given any importance in the media, which everyone cares about for a few days, and then is totally forgotten. It's an ongoing problem of children suffering until we stand up and do something about it.

This hidden problem is a secret well kept by Nestlé, but is the first step we can all take to stopping this child labour. Next time someone is seen eating Smarties, ask them if they know how their chocolate is made or what they'd think if Nestlé's chocolate had a label reading "made by slaves."

Should this be treated as a problem one day, but forgotten the next because we don't want to admit we can do something about child labour on the Ivory Coast?

---------------------------------------

'Slave' story an important issue

John Rowsome, President, Confectionery Manufacturers Association of Canada
© Chilliwack Times 2008
Friday, May 09, 2008

Editor:

We read with interest the article entitled "Think About Chocolate Slaves" published in the April 29 edition of your newspaper. This is an issue of great importance to all members of our association. Our trade association on behalf of the Canadian cocoa/chocolate industry, has been part of a major global industry strategy to bring about meaningful change in West Africa that includes the Ivory Coast. On an issue as important as this one, words (and numbers) matter.

While any instance of trafficked children or any form of abusive child labour is totally unacceptable, it is important to note that cocoa is grown on more than two million family-run farms in West Africa, most on small holdings of four to seven hectares in the Ivory Coast. Studies show that on the vast majority of these farms, children, like on most Canadian farms, help out as family members.

Without question, there are serious issues: children helping out instead of attending school, child injuries due to undertaking unsafe tasks and adherence to internationally acceptable labour standards. This brings us to the Harkin Engel Protocol. The article mentions that Nestle signed the Cocoa Protocol in 2001 and "by 2005, the company had failed to fulfill its promise. The chance of freeing these slaves has disappeared." This statement is without any foundation. In point of fact, the protocol never "disappeared" and is the force behind the development of an effective certification process that is driving ongoing, positive change in labour practices and responsible cocoa growing in West Africa.

By July, 2008, 50 per cent of the West African cocoa production will be certified as per the protocol with the assistance of NGO partners and the governments of Ghana and Ivory Coast. This includes an internationally accepted verification process. By the fall of 2009 certification will be deployed sector-wide.

The challenge has been unprecedented: no other industry has ever developed a certification system involving a population base of 10 million people roughly a third the size of Canada's. The chocolate industry has provided financial and technical support to West African governments in the development of a sustainable and verifiable certification process as well as funding the development of remedial programs and a host of socio-economic community undertakings.

The CMAC and our members are also partners with the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) working with West African cocoa farmers and their families in such endeavours as farmer field schools to educate farmers on safe, responsible labour practices while helping them earn more for their cocoa crops through better growing and selling techniques. Canadian civil society and CIDA have played a role.

We appreciate the opportunity of adding to this discussion and hope that this information provides you with some further insight into this most complex issue. To learn more about the work of the WCF we would suggest you visit www.worldcocoa.org. Also please visit the CMAC website www.confectioncanada.com and click on to "Responsible Cocoa Growing."

Thank you to the Chilliwack Times for writing about this important issue. We trust that our comments clearly establish that this is not a "hidden problem well kept" by any chocolate company and not only can "we do something about child labour" industry along with its governmental and civil society partners have undertaken unprecedented programs to eliminate abusive child labour practices. Our commitment must be, and is, holistic, sustainable and long term.

DC Make Trade Fair Helps Create the World's Largest Coffee Break!!

Look for the picture of Washington, DC coffee break!
(From left: Elizabeth Gilhuly, Director, DC Make Trade Fair!; Tamiru Degefa, Co-Founder, Abol Coffee, Inc., family and friends)

See other YouTube broadcasts on Fair Trade at:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fair+trade&search_type=

News: The Sweet Side of Fair Trade

Co-op America Action, News & Resources



Sustainability has always been an important value at Food For Thought, the organic food company (and Green Business Network™ member) Timothy Young started over ten years ago. All of his products—from strawberry preserves to corn muffin mix—include certified organic fruits and vegetables. Social justice has also been a strong part of his mission, so when he saw the opportunity to sweeten his preserves with Fair Trade Certified™ sugar, he leapt at it.

"Choosing Fair Trade, organic sugar was an easy decision for us," says Young. "The fruit we use comes from local farmers with whom we have direct relationships, so we know that both people and the planet are being treated fairly. Now we can also guarantee that the sugar we use is providing a fair wage to small-scale farmers around the world."
Young uses Fair Trade Certified™ sugar to make his unique preserves, and now you can use it in our own kitchen. Fair Trade sugar, which made its US debut in 2005, has steadily gained market share, is now widely available to consumers in grocery stores and online—giving people the opportunity to buy white, brown, and powdered sugar that benefits both people and the planet

Read "The Sweet Side of Fair Trade" and find Fair Trade sugar resources »

Ghanaian women in rural areas make headway towards development

Ghana’s northern region may pass off to a visitor as a collection of savanna shrubs with nothing to offer to hunters of industrial raw materials. But a group of women in the region is rapidly changing the image and face of the savanna shrubs.

AFRIK.com
Friday 9 May 2008

For centuries, Ghanaians have lived with plenty of nuts in their backyards but, until recently, the silver lining in the variety of nuts available in the vast West African nation remained a hidden treasure for most of its inhabitants.

The Shea butter tree, which until recently was considered part of the wild savanna shrubs that have covered the villages of Sagnarigu and Sanga in Ghana’s drier and dusty town of Tamale, about 550kms north of the capital, Accra, is emerging as a key source of life.

The semi arid northern region, historically popular as West Africa’s trade route, is slowly transforming its traditional land ownership culture and gradually relinquishing the control of land and other key resources to women, thanks to the Shea butter project in Tamale.

Habiba Musa, 45, earned her living from "petty trade" in locally available goods from the villages of Sagnarigu and Sanga, which are miles apart, until her troubles with hitching rides from trucks transporting goods from Accra to Tamale, got the better of her.

She got fed up with the hawking job and quit eight years ago, when word went out of a new project for women in Tamale, an ancient city sandwiched between the common border with Burkina Faso to the far north and Cote d’Ivoire to the north East.

She joined a group of close to 500 women in the region, who derive their livelihoods from the project and have a story to tell from their involvement.

At the time, few women in the greater north knew much about Shea butter, a raw material used in the manufacture of cosmetics, beauty products, pharmaceutical and an array of other products, other than its use as a source of edible fruit.

The northern Ghana poverty plan, mooted by the UN nearly 20 years ago, has offered women in the region some real reasons to celebrate their life.

Ghana is known for its mass production of cocoa, of which it still remains one of the world’s leading producer, but few knew, or even bothered about the existence, of the valuable raw material - Shea butter.

"I am able to support myself and assist my immediate family which I was never able to do before when I was involved in petty trade. I am even able to attend to the community needs and participate in the big ceremonies," Musa said.

To the Ghanaian woman, the introduction of the Shea butter project is one of the best life-enhancing initiatives ever to occur in their lifetime.

The loss of self-esteem as a result of poverty and being considered a community outcast was too much to bear for most of the women participating in the Shea industry.

As a result of global efforts to combat poverty among the villagers in Africa, women are showing promise from what appeared to be a bleak and often male dominated society.

Habiba Al-Hassan’s long-term dream of owning a pair of teeth finally came true after a tough brush with poverty, loss of self-esteem and being the village laughing stalk.

Habiba, the most popular member of the Pagsung Shea Butter Producers and Pickers Association, which is set to be registered as a national association for the producers, marvels at her achievements with the Shea butter project, which she said had transformed her family.

From her daily participation in the largely community-run Shea butter plantation, Habiba has clawed back her lost self-esteem and has contributed a mechanical engineer for Ghana’s future industrialisation bid and a wood specialist - her sons.

Apart from the fruits of her labour - her children’s education which is her greatest achievement - she was also able to purchase of a pair of teeth, which she did not have, for US$270.

"I could never smile. Whenever I did, I had to do it with my tongue because everyone laughed at me for not having teeth, they called me the toothless one," she said.

Ghanaian women in the north have made huge strides in their quest to overcome poverty.

In 1989, at the height of global efforts to fight rising poverty in Africa, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) pioneered a ground-breaking project, dubbed "Africa 2000" with the aim of helping Africans earn their living from their habitat.

The UNDP introduced the project, which it named the Sustainable Livelihoods Project, on a pilot basis, aiming to utilise the savanna plantations to the benefit of the community.

Adisa Lansah, the Executive Director of the Africa 2000 Network, which sprang out from the Africa 2000 initiative, says the introduction of new varieties of seeds for plantations in the villages of Sagnarigu and Sanga had revitalised what was a dying culture.

The villagers cleared some of the naturally occurring bushes of the Shea butter tree in the past because, at the time, they did not understand the need for an entire generation of Shea butter trees that yielded nothing better than a few edible seeds.

But little did they know that right at their backyard was a raw material with the potential to make Ghana the middle income industry it desires to become by 2015.

"We saw that Shea butter was the common raw material in this region and we needed to sustain the women livelihoods without interrupting their way of life," said Adisa.

The Japan International Corporation (JICA) is funding the project through research at the University of Development Studies in Ghana from various aspects, including setting up an optimal international pricing mechanism for the Shea butter.

In the meantime, international buyers are thronging Tamale in search of supplies from the Pugsung Group, whose Executive Secretary, Sofia Al-Hassan, said had the potential to make Ghana a key exporter of the raw material for the world’s pharmaceutical industry.

The Pagsung, which means ideal woman in the local Ashanti language, -has earned US$5,650 for its members from its last order from a Japanese firm, Tree of Life.

There are other buyers from Canada, Germany, Denmark and the United States.

Ghana, known for its cocoa-rich fields, is on course to creating an entirely new industry from the midst of its rural women, a boost to Africa’s dormant economy.

The strength of the Ghanaian women and their determination to succeed offers an inspiration and fresh hope of victory against poverty.

Butter that brought fat profits to the mud huts of Ghana

How did a women's co-operative manage to grab a share of the £2.4bn global cosmetics industry?

Members of the Ideal Woman Shea Butter Producers and Pickers Association

By Cahal Milmo in Tamale, Ghana
Published by: The Independent
Friday, 16 May 2008

After two decades of being mocked as the "toothless one", Habiba Anhasan used her first earnings this week to buy a set of dentures.


Until a year ago, the £130 price of the false teeth would have been only a dream for a woman such as Mrs Anhasan, who scratched a living as a hawker selling cheap goods in the arid savannah of northern Ghana.

But a mixture of arduous labour under the blistering sun and insatiable demand in the developed world for plant-based beauty products, has transformed Mrs Anhasan and 30 other women into a band of steely entrepreneurs with a lucrative toehold in a £2bn global cosmetics industry.

Pounding golfball-sized shea nuts with her comrades in the "Pagsum" or Ideal Woman Shea Butter Producers and Pickers Association, Mrs Anhasan said: "Our butter goes from our village to London and Tokyo. It makes me so proud to think that what we make here goes to the greatest cities in the world."

From their production base in the mud-hut village of Sagnarigu and neighbouring communities in the heart of Ghana's sub-Saharan savannah, the women's co-operative churns out orders for their premium handmade shea butter to clients ranging from a US pharmaceuticals company to Britain's Body Shop.

Their success is largely due to a dramatic rise in demand in the developed world for what they call pikahali, the vitamin E-rich cream with the appearance of clotted cream and the smell of the savannah that is extracted during a back-breaking, 25-stage, three-day process.

For centuries, women across west Africa have picked the green fruit of the shea nut tree – a leafy giant of the bush similar to the walnut tree – and processed it into an unguent with a bewildering multiplicity of traditional uses, from healing the navel of a new-born child to cooking daily stews of yam. In the dark days of the region's civil wars, some guerrilla groups believed a thick application to the skin would deflect bullets.

But as cosmetics companies jostle for position in the lucrative market for natural beauty products and try to source ethically sound products for an ever more eco-aware consumer base, this labour-intensive product sold until recently for pennies in the street markets of countries from Senegal to Burkina Faso to Ghana to Nigeria has become big business.

Soaring cocoa prices, now about £1,500 per tonne, have also increased demand for shea butter, which can be used as a substitute for cocoa in chocolate and patisserie.

In 1994, all of west Africa made 50,000 tonnes of shea butter worth about £5m. This year, the export market will be worth £50m and Ghana alone will produce 250,000 tonnes, worth £200 per tonne. Big buyers include the French cosmetics giant L'Oreal and the upmarket high street chain L'Occitane.

In such a context it is perhaps unsurprising that some of the women working in the co-operative, which has united the women of Sagnarigu with 25 surrounding villages to form a powerful marketing group, now refer to the shiny nuts as "brown gold".

Barely two years after they formed their co-operative, the women have gone from making a few hundred kilograms of their premium hand-made butter every month to the present 1.25 tonnes a week. The price the group receives has risen from 30p per kilogram to the £2 per kilogram paid by international buyers. One order from a Japanese cosmetics company last year gave the Sagnarigu women a windfall of £2,500, which allowed Mrs Anhasan to get her teeth.

The industry has caused a sea change in the economic prospects and lifestyle of the co-operative members, many of them widows on the margins of northern Ghana's patriarchal society, who work together in a small communal area in the heart of the sun-baked village. Ironically, the emergence of the co-operative is due to the deterioration of the environment around Sagnarigu and its neighbouring communities, close to Tamale, the biggest city in Ghana's impoverished northern regions.

Rapid deforestation in the Sahel – the strip of bushy savannah that acts as a buffer between the sands of the Sahara and the rainforests of equatorial Africa – led to a UN-backed initiative in the early 1990s to replant scrubland rendered bare because the trees were chopped down for cooking fuel. Thousands of shea trees were planted around Tamale. The shea was chosen in part because local superstition dictated no tree could be planted by human hand which grew more quickly than the villagers' children.

Now the all-female work has been particularly vital to women such as Mrs Anhasan and Adamu Amidu, whose status as widows means they lost the right to live in their former husband's home – normally reclaimed by his male relatives – and faced a life of destitution.

When asked what they dream of spending their profits on, most widows give the same answer. Mrs Amidu, 51, said: "A house for me and my children. They can go to school. I can feed them. In return, I work for the business as hard as I can."

Pointing to a tub of fresh shea butter, another said: "For years, we have used it for everything. It cures our ills and fills our bellies. Now it is filling our pockets."

Counter Culture Direct Trade Certification Unveiled as World’s First Third-Party Certified Direct Trade Coffee Mark

Carolina Newswire

Durham, NC – In an effort to better communicate its fair, sustainability-focused business practices and help coffee lovers make more informed purchasing decisions, Counter Culture Coffee today introduced the specialty coffee industry’s first third-party authenticated direct trade coffee certification. The new Counter Culture Direct Trade Certification engages USDA-accredited Quality Certification Services (QCS) to verify Counter Culture’s compliance with four measures related to individual coffees sourced from the roaster’s grower partners. Each Counter Culture Direct Trade Certified coffee meets the following criteria:

1. Personal & direct communication with coffee farmers: Counter Culture has visited grower partners on a biennial basis, at minimum.

2. Fair & sustainable prices paid to farmers: Counter Culture has paid at least $1.60/lb. for green coffee. This exceeds the Fair Trade Certified floor price by at least 19%, not including quality-based financial incentives paid to growers.

3. Exceptional cup quality: Coffees have scored at least 85 on Counter Culture’s blind 100-pt. cupping (cup quality) scale.

4. 100% supply chain transparency: Counter Culture maintains direct communication between buyers, sellers, and any intermediaries. All relevant financial information is available to all parties in the supply chain.

“The Counter Culture Direct Trade Certification was born of the realization that we needed to create a standard that better communicates the guiding principles behind our coffee purchases, relationships with coffee farmers, and quality-driven approach to sustainability,” said Counter Culture Director of Coffee and co-owner Peter Giuliano. “Specifically, the Counter Culture Direct Trade Certification is based on our core values for coffee purchasing: personal interaction with growers, exceptional quality in the cup, consistently fair prices that reward quality, and transparency throughout the supply chain.”

PERSONAL & DIRECT COMMUNICATION WITH COFFEE FARMERS

Counter Culture Coffee staff members spend an unprecedented amount of time at origin working directly with grower partners. This personal, direct communication builds trust and lays the groundwork for long-term, mutually supportive relationships that allow the roaster to work side by side with farmers to improve quality; encourage ecologically responsible cultivation methods; assess social practices and working conditions; and learn more about the cultures and people who produce great coffee. Such direct relationships – and the quality, sustainability, and learning they foster – are the essence of the Counter Culture Direct Trade model.

Fair & Sustainable PriceS PAID TO FARMERS

The Counter Culture Direct Trade Certification guarantees at least $1.60/lb. for green coffee purchases, a minimum price that exceeds the Fair Trade Certified floor price by 19%. The Counter Culture Direct Trade Certification minimum of $1.60/lb. is based directly on discussions with Counter Culture’s grower partners and their costs of production. The roaster chose not to index its baseline price to the Fair Trade Certified floor price because it, like the commodity market price, is subject to unpredictable daily fluctuation. While the $1.60/lb. minimum also sets a new, higher standard for green coffee purchases, Counter Culture will pay more than this minimum price for most Counter Culture Direct Trade Certified coffees, not including the additional financial premiums the roaster pays to growers for exceptional quality.

EXCEPTIONAL Quality & Grower incentives

All Counter Culture Direct Trade Certified coffees must score at least 85 on a blind 100-pt. cupping (cup quality) scale. In addition, the roaster builds quality-based financial incentives into its coffee purchases and rewards the most exceptional coffees with the highest prices. In other words, a coffee farmer receives more for a 95-scoring coffee than a 90-scoring coffee; and more for a 90 than the $1.60/lb. earned for the minimum score of 85. Most Counter Culture Direct Trade Certified coffees, however, score higher than 85 and therefore receive more than the minimum price.

“We firmly believe that everyone involved in producing great coffee deserves to prosper, and we are committed to establishing farm-specific programs to recognize, reward, and support quality development,” said Giuliano. “Quality in the cup is of paramount importance to us, and we’ve found that establishing a transparent relationship between coffee quality and the price paid to farmers is a proven way to sustain long-term quality improvement. The Counter Culture Direct Trade Certification is the first coffee certification to establish the essential link between a minimum base price and a minimum level of quality.”

100% Transparency

All Counter Culture Coffee Direct Trade Certified coffees are purchased via transparent transactions that recognize each individual’s role in the coffee supply chain. In each transaction, Counter Culture collaborates with grower partners to determine the prices they receive for coffee first, and only then negotiates for other services such as processing, export, and import. This complete transparency enables all parties to understand clearly their responsibilities and compensation. Counter Culture is also committed to sharing all financial information related to its coffee purchases and business practices with everyone, including growers, wholesale customers, and end consumers.

Initially, five coffees will carry the Counter Culture Direct Trade Certified seal: Finca El Puente from Marcala, Honduras; La Golondrina from Cauca, Colombia; Valle del Santuario from San Ignacio, Peru; Ikawa Rwanda from Rusenyi, Rwanda; and Finca Nueva Armenia from Huehuetenango, Guatemala. Counter Culture plans to certify 3-4 additional coffees before the end of 2008, and has the goal of certifying 6-8 more in 2009.

Quality Certification Services (QCS) is a USDA-accredited certifier of food and craft products. QCS certifies Farming, Wildcrafting, Livestock, Processing, Packing, and Handling operations. For more information, please visit www.qcsinfo.org.

Founded in 1995, Durham, NC-based Counter Culture Coffee pursues coffee perfection with a consuming passion. The company partners directly with producers at origin to import and roast premium coffees for cafes, restaurants, gourmet and grocery stores, and other specialty markets. The roaster operates regional training centers in Atlanta, GA; Washington, DC; and Asheville, Charlotte, and Durham, NC. In 2006, Counter Culture Coffee was named one of the top three boutique roasters in the United States by Food & Wine magazine, and was named ROAST magazine’s Roaster of the Year in 2004. For more information or to order coffee, please visit: www.CounterCultureCoffee.com.

Fair trade products will alleviate some misery in the world

The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Monday, May 19, 2008

Canadians often contribute to the better well-being of other people in the world. This was the case with the fair trade coffee, where the sales have increased by 30 per cent each year in Canada. This could also become the case with some other consumer goods, such as chocolate.

The purchase of fair-trade certified products has important consequences. It allows many producers to receive reasonable prices for their products and numerous workers to climb out of poverty. It also has positive impacts on the environment.

About 15,000 slave children are working on farms and cocoa plantations in the Ivory Coast, and this is only a small sample off all the misery linked to the production of chocolate.

We should all work towards, a world where solidarity is at the heart of economic development, and the fair trade is an immense step in this direction.

Bruno Marquis,
Gatineau

Shoppers buying peace of mind

Jennifer Stelly, left, lifts a carton of organically grown tomatoes for Kerry Smith at the Central City Co-Op in Houston. The co-op caters to a growing trend of people exercising ethical consumerism.
KEVIN FUJII: CHRONICLE

Co-op caters to consumers who have a bone to pick with big retailers

By DAVID ELLISON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Chron.com

No longer does Jennifer Stelly push a metal shopping cart down supermarket aisles. Instead, she carries a reusable bag to pick out produce — all grown organically by local farmers — in the three rows at the Central City Co-Op in Montrose.

"Generally speaking, I absolutely refuse to shop at Wal-Mart and I always try to go just as local as possible. ... I try to stay away from corporate America as much as possible," said Stelly, who quit her engineering job four years ago to open an energy-medicine business.

Stelly said she prefers family-owned businesses to chain stores. She and friends purchase wholesale natural and organic products from a buying club that provides free shipping if they purchase more than $250 worth.

She is one of a growing number of consumers who have altered their shopping habits on the basis of their politics, moral and ethical beliefs, as well as concerns about human-rights or free-trade grounds.

Known commonly as moral purchasing or ethical consumerism, the practice involves buying things that are made without harm or exploitation of animals, laborers or the environment.

Voting with their feet

Some, like Stelly, prefer to shop at area businesses not only to support the local economy, but also to avoid the costs and effects of the fuel used to transport products to Houston.

It is not a new idea. Consumers always have voted with their feet, shopping at retailers that offered the best price or the best service.

So-called "socially responsible" mutual funds that allow people to make investments that exclude certain kinds of companies, such as cigarette manufacturers, or firms that do not follow one's religious beliefs, have been popular for years.

And national exhortations to avoid certain products, from table grapes to products tested on animals, come and go.

Over the years, people have expanded their concerns by refusing to shop at companies and their suppliers that have poor records of protecting the environment, that purchase goods from foreign countries or that do not use Fair Trade-certified products.

Even illegal immigration has been raised as a reason to avoid a particular retailer. Last month's raid and roundup of illegal immigrants at a Shipley Do-Nuts office warehouse in near-north Houston prompted several commenters on the Houston Chronicle's Web site to say they would stop visiting the popular bakery.

Similarly, negative news about products made in China — including lead-tainted toys, melamine-tainted pet food, and toothpaste laced with antifreeze — have some shoppers leery of that country's merchandise.

Liana Winkler, visiting the Taft Street location of the Central City Co-Op for the first time last week, said she does not buy food grown in China and other countries.

"When I look at all the frozen food, it says 'Made in China,' " she said. "And I don't want to eat food where I don't know what they are fertilized with. I don't know where they are grown. I don't know whether they are made with slave labor."

Green initiatives

The moral-purchasing debate is widely discussed on Internet sites such as www.walmartwatch.com, a group devoted mainly to forcing the world's largest retailer to provide better wages and benefits for its employees.

"The bigger the company you are, probably the bigger the target you have on your back," said Scott Krugman, a spokesman with the Washington-based National Retail Federation, which represents 1.6 million retailers nationwide. "You can let other people tell your story for you, or you can take the responsibility to tell that story yourself. And that's what companies should be doing."

Wal-Mart, he said, is one of the pioneers in green initiatives with its efforts to assure that stores and their suppliers are environmentally friendly and energy efficient.

Wal-Mart officials did not return several phone calls for comment.

Bad publicity is costly

Meanwhile, Starbucks has had to defend itself against accusations that it does not buy "fair-trade" coffee. The movement is an organized effort to ensure that small growers in other countries are paid enough for their products to provide a decent living.

A Starbucks spokesman denied the charge and issued a statement saying the company "has a longstanding commitment of conducting business in an ethical and responsible manner."

Krugman said it is difficult to put a dollar amount on how much companies lose from bad publicity.

Al Norman, founder of www.sprawl-busters.com, a nationwide movement to stop construction of big-box stores such as Wal-Mart, The Home Depot, Kohl's, Target and Lowe's Home Improvement, said the impact of citizens not shopping at stores is small compared to the legal fees incurred when groups tie up store construction in courts or in planning hearings.

"Building a store four or five times the size of a football field ruins the neighborhood feel for many people who aren't interested in cheap underwear," he said. "A small-town quality of life is not sold at any Wal-Mart. And once they take it away from you, they can't sell it back at any price."

Jill Sundie, an assistant professor of marketing and entrepreneurship at the University of Houston's Bauer College of Business, said consumers pay attention when there is negative news about a company, including the use of child labor or the abuse of its own employees.

"Certainly," she said, "you see consumers responding in terms of not shopping at certain outlets, not buying certain types of products or hiring people for services if they have violated some moral or ethical guidelines."


Food is locally grown
However, Sundie said, not all consumers can afford to adjust their shopping habits because the alternative could force them to pay more for products. Some will continue to shop at stores, she said, regardless of the companies' reputations.

Stelly said she spends less now. She said she volunteers at the co-op, which allows her to get some of her fruits and vegetables free. Items at the buying club — where she gets organic, sustainable or fair-trade dry foods, household products and health-care items — are sold at wholesale prices.

At the Central City Co-Op on Taft Street, some shoppers said they participate because the food is locally grown, organic and healthier.

Victoria Lugwin, who shops there every week, said she tries not to patronize stores that have what she considers ethical problems. Also, she tries to buy seafood that comes from the United States because she said this country takes better care of its waters.

"I think that not only supporting local agriculture, but also eating local agriculture is good for the farmers and good for the people eating the food," she said.

david.ellison@chron.com

Youth group tapped to promote trade fair

TradingMarkets.com

CEBU CITY, May 17, 2008 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) -- -- A fair trade followers network composed of over 70 members aged 18 to 35 years will promote through community activities products of small local farmers and producers.

This network, called Young Advocates (Ya!) of Fair Trade, is also expected to link with fair trade advocates abroad.

Advocate of Philippine Fair Trade Inc. advocacy and fair trade promotions manager Ronald Lagazo said activities of the network will help promote consumer awareness about fair trade practice and products, particularly as less than one percent of the countrys consumers know these.

All fair trade organizations looked to export markets as the better alternative but about two to three years ago, these began considering how Filipino consumers can support such practices and products, he said. Fair trade products are made under environment-friendly as well as economically and socially well conditions.

Lagazo noted the concept of fair trade emerged over 20 years ago but advocacy for it began in the 1990s only when the countrys fair trade organizations grouped.

There are now over 25 of these organizations nationwnide.

On Friday, fair trade advocates launched Ya! At St. Theresas College.

Ya!s members are mostly students of business from different schools and communities.

Aside from being idealistic, Lagazo said Ya! members are the countrys future business leaders.

So lets start them young and get them to do business the right way, he said.

*Fair Trade Federation Announces Five New Directors*

Washington DC - May 16, 2008 - The Fair Trade Federation (FTF), the association of fully committed fair trade businesses in North America, announced today the election of five new members to its Board of Directors.

Bringing a vast array of experience and expertise, Cecilia Durkin of Women's Work in Cold Spring, NY, Manish Gupta of Handmade _Expressions in Austin, TX, John Flory of North Country Fair Trade in Minneapolis, MN, Allen Joseph of Living Wage LLC in Tallahassee, FL, and Kelly Weinberger of WorldFinds in Westmont, IL will serve the until June 2010.

The newly elected members will join Doug Dirks, Ten Thousand Villages (Chair), Marcie Boyer, Flavours of Life (Vice Chair), Tex Dworkin , Global Exchange (Secretary), and Kevin Ward, Global Crafts (Treasurer), beginning in June 2008.

"The Federation has a long history and a bright future," said Carmen K. Iezzi, FTF's executive director. "Our new board members will be key assets in the development of FTF and in creating just and sustainable opportunities for artisans and farmers worldwide."

The Federation also extends its thanks to outgoing board members, Alessandra Bravo (Lucuma Designs), Bob Chase (SERRV International), Dana Geffner (Pacha World), Erin Gorman (Divine Chocolate), Priya Haji (World of Good), and Seth Petchers (Oxfam America), for their service and leadership over the past two years.

Since 1994, the Fair Trade Federation has supported retailers, wholesalers, and producers who distinguish themselves by fully committing to eight principles of fair trade and striving to exclusively provide goods under fair trade conditions. For more information, please visit: www.FairTradeFederation.org.

Contact: Carmen K. Iezzi, info@fairtradefederation.org, 202-636-3547