Why Should Fair Trade Concern Me?

Fair Trade: Know where your money's going

Africa has always been a place of abundant natural resources. Today, one of the most important commodities is Shea butter, her “liquid gold.” Unfortunately the people in west and central Africa who are ultimately responsible for bringing this valuable oil to the rest of the world are rarely compensated fairly.

The majority of all the Shea nuts collected in Africa, about 606,500 metric tons, are purchased and controlled by European and Asian corporations, such as Unilever. Together, they are able to control the price of Shea nuts. The prices these corporations pay do not equal a living wage, since the time to gather, dry and shell the Shea nuts is not factored into the price. This is in part due to the fact that one or more middlemen are involved, so the final price paid to the gatherers is very small.

The Shea trade process begins when multinational corporations visit the capital cities and find wealthy businessmen who are not averse to taking advantage of their own people. These middlemen go into the countryside and buy the Shea nuts and traditionally processed Shea butter at below the market price. The western corporations begin by setting a price they will pay for the raw material. The businessmen then quote a lower price to the local officials, who also take a cut, making the price even lower. There may be as many as three more middlemen in the process.

By the time the funds reach the gatherers and producers, the price paid per unit does not come close to reflecting the real market price. The women who have done all the back breaking work of bending, gathering, and transporting the nuts are left with no alternative but to accept the meager funds offered to them. Furthermore, the Shea nuts are then taken outside the country to be extracted and refined. This takes potential employment away from the local people.

Up to 20 to 30 hours of labor is required to produce one kilogram of handcrafted Shea butter, which is traded at $1 or less in today’s market. The women who gather Shea nuts and hand craft this remarkable oil receive only a tiny fraction of this dollar for almost a week’s worth of work.

Even if the many middlemen were eliminated and these women received the whole dollar, this amount does not even begin to reach living wage standards. Therefore, it is extremely important that consumers are aware of the source of their Shea butter. It is not enough to think that just purchasing any Shea butter will benefit the producers.

Alaffia fair trade Shea butter is handcrafted by the Agbanga Karite Group, a member controlled Shea butter cooperative in central Togo. This cooperative, which is made up of over 60 local shea butter artisans, is involved in the entire process, from gathering the wild Shea nuts and crafting the butter, to distribution locally and abroad. Alaffia and Agbanga Karite have eliminated the middlemen and have also pledged to follow fair trade and organic guidelines. As a result, Agbanga Karite members receive fair and steady incomes. In addition to providing fair wages in a country with high unemployment and following organic production guidelines, Alaffia and Agbanga Karite reinvest funds from Shea butter sales directly back to their communities in the form of community enhancement projects, AIDS and malaria outreach, and educational scholarships. When you buy fairly traded Shea butter, you are helping to “build African self-empowerment the moral way.”

Source: http://www.marlenesmarket-deli.com/news0305_fairtrade.htm

Here is an article link to an agency responsible for bringing about Fair Trade Practices.
Why Fair Trade? A Brief Look at Free Trade in the Global Economy