Fairtrade monitoring report reveals key impact insights

As sales of Fairtrade products continue to grow around the world, the need for understanding the impact increases. Fairtrade International has released Monitoring the Scope and Benefits of Fairtrade 2012, a compendium of data and summaries of key research exploring the impacts of Fairtrade. The full report can be found at http://www.fairtrade.net/. (Picture by Linus Hallgren: Fresh tea leaves in hand at EPK-OEP in Kenya)

Among other findings, the report highlights the importance of small farmer organisations in the Fairtrade system. By the end of 2011, the total number of small-scale farmers in the Fairtrade system topped 1 million with a 26 % increase in sales revenues on Fairtrade terms. “Fairtrade is making a difference for over a million farmers and workers and their families, as this report shows,” said Harriet Lamb, Chief Executive at Fairtrade International. “The rich data here gives insights into our core strengths – for example our world class work with smallholder organisations – as well as those areas where we need to improve, such as in furthering workers’ empowerment and progress toward a living wage.”
 

Key insights include:

The overall number of producer organisations increased 10 %, and the total number of farmers and workers in the system increased 13 % between 2010 and 2011. (Picture by Stephan Lechner: Women picking cotton in Senegal)

Smallholder organisations reported a 30 % increase in sales revenues on Fairtrade terms, and a 26 % increase Fairtrade Premium in the time period under review.

Strong growth in cocoa and sugar between 2010 and 2011: Fairtrade Premium received by smallholder cocoa farmers increased 89 %; total farmers producing Fairtrade sugar grew from 17,600 to 37,200. This reflects the initial results of large scale commitments to Fairtrade by major sugar and chocolate companies.

Challenges in the worker sector: While the data show strong growth across many indicators for small producer organisations, plantations and other hired labour set-ups in some product areas continued to sell only a relatively small share of their production as Fairtrade. Recognising this, Fairtrade International is beginning implementation of a new Hired Labour Strategy to increase impact and ensure greater benefits for workers. The full story is available here. (Picture by Linus Hallgren: Rosa Maribel Galecio Medina, an employee at APPBOSA in Peru)

From sugar farmers in Guyana to banana workers in Ghana, information from 990 out of 991 producer organisations make this report the most complete ever. The report contains over 100 charts and graphs showing where Fairtrade farmers and workers are located (top country is Kenya with 173,800 farmers and workers), and information about production and sales, and how producers use the Fairtrade Premium (strong preference among small farmer organisations to invest in business development).

In addition, for the first time, this year’s report includes summaries of recent in-depth research into the impacts of Fairtrade in specific products and countries, as well as individual producer stories. This allows readers to look beyond the data on sales, production, and Fairtrade Premium to gain insights into areas that are of key importance to Fairtrade, such as worker empowerment and producer organization strengthening. One of the highlights is a study released December 2012 that looked into the effects of Fairtrade across six product ranges on three continents. The study is available here. (Picture by Sean Hawkey: A handful of roasted coffee from FECCEG in Guatemala)

“Our monitoring system and this report are part of our commitment to transparency and learning. The data demonstrate the successes, but also, maybe more importantly, show us where we can improve,” said Kate Kilpatrick, Research, Evaluation and Learning Manager at Fairtrade International. The Fairtrade Certification Mark, a registered trademark, appears on more than 27,000 products in 120 countries. Over 1.2 million small farmers and workers in 66 countries benefit from Fairtrade. More information is available here: www.fairtrade.net