Fair trade in South Africa

What is fair trade?

Fair trade is a global trading system that was established to give small-scale producers access to markets that were prepared to pay a "fair" price, rather than simply the lowest price. It has grown to be a powerful movement for social change as well as a milion-dollar industry. It has also grown to serve both small-scale farmers, workers and crafters, and has been formally operating in South Africa for the last 5 or 6 years.

The fair trade system is most formalised in the agricultural field, where small-scale farmers and farm-workers receive the benefits. However some manufactured goods (footballs) can also be certified and there are a number of initiatives to formalise "fair" trading in handcrafts and other goods.

For a more compete overview...

The EMG publication, A beginners guide to alternative trade and fair trade in South Africa (104KB PDF) gives the reader a good overview of the basic issues relating to fair trade in South Africa. It is available in a combined English/Afrikaans version. Die bogenoemde bookie 'n Beginnersgids by Alternatiewe Handel en Billike Handel in Suid Afrika (104KB PDF) is 'n gekombineerde Afrikaans/Englese uitgaawe. The hard copy is no longer available but it can be downloaded by clicking the link above.

AFIT - A Fair trade producer network

EMG helped to establish the network, the Association for Fairness in Trade (AFIT), which was formally launched in May 2005 and aims to provide a platform for better engagement of fair trade beneficiaries in the system that is supposed to serve them. EMG continues to act as secretariat to the network. EMG has been assisting small-farmers and farm worker committees producing for the fair trade market to establish a South African network of fair trade producers so that, as ultimate "beneficiaries", they can engage more powerfully with the fair trade system.

AFIT is constituted as a voluntary association and its Constitution can be downloaded here (PDF 24KB). If you want to learn more about AFITs aims and objectives, download the powerpoint presentation (424KB) given at AFIT's launch. You can also have a look at AFIT newsletters for December 2005, September 2006 and May 2007 (134KB PDF). For more information contact the Chair, Nelie Kok at Eksteenskuil Farmers Association (054 461 0162) or Stephen Law at EMG (021 448 2881).

Small farmers and fair trade

From our field office in Niewoudville, EMG has been working with small-scale rooibos farmers for some years, assisting them in accessing fair trade and organic markets. For these farmers, marginalised by apartheid and the monopoly rooibos processing industry, the higher prices obtained on the fair trade and organic markets, mean that tea-growing is no longer a pure survival strategy, but a viable farming activity. EMG provides a range of ongoing support to the Heiveld Co-operative and Wupperthal Tea Association, in all, representing some 150 small-scale farmers and their dependents. Along with fair trade and organic certification comes access to supportive financing and training. The farmers have been able to raise capital to biult their own tea-processing facility and also have a 66% shareholding in a packaging facility in Cape Town. As their farming activities have become more profitable, so opportinities for introducing sustainable farming practices have increased.

EMG has also recently begun to work more closely with small-scale farmers of the Eksteenskuil farmers Association, who farm along the Orange River and produce fair trade certified sun-dried raisins and sultanas.

While fair trade worldwide and in Africa is dominated by products from small-scale farmers, in South Africa they are in a distinct minority. Of the more than 40 South African producers certified through the international Fairtrade Labeling Organisation (FLO) only 3 are small-farmer organisations. Of the remaining, a handfull are former "commercial" farms where farmworkers have a majority or even total shareholding. The remaining are however required to comply with a special FLO standard for South Africa in which it is required that farm-workers have at least a 25% ownership stake in the enterprise.

Publications on fair trade

This booklet A Practical Guide to Fair Trade Premium Projects for Small Farmers and Joint Bodies is a joint publication (together with Fair Trade South Africa and the City of Cape Town ). It is aimed at FLO certified small-farmers and farm-worker Joint Bodies, and explores the processes and rules around managing and spending FLO premium funds. It is written in a simple, eary-to-read style and gives a large number of real life examples. Hard copies are available from EMG or can be downloaded (PDF 211KB) by clicking the above link. Die Afrikaanse weergaawe van die bookie, 'n Praktiese Gids vir Fairtrade Premuim projekte vir Kleinboere en Joint Bodies is nou beskikbaar. Vra by EMG of druk op die "link"bo (PDF, 401KB).

African Fairtrade network (AFN)

Three representatives of the Association for Fairness in Trade (AFIT), along with EMG, attended the 1st Members Meeting of the African Fair Trade Network (AFN) in Moshi, Tanzania, in June 2006. The AFN is an attempt to network all fair trade producers in African who carry certification from the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO). Among the many issues discussed was a call for greater representivity from producers in FLO governance structures, and concern over the increasing role of large plantations and multi-nationals in the fair trade system. A short report on the meeting (MSWord, 69KB) can be downloaded here as well as a report on a associated meeting to discuss FLO's proposals to revise the standards for small-farmer organisations (MSWord, 73KB). For more on the AFN, download the AFN Constitution (MSWord, 111KB) and contact the Co-ordinator, Damian Salla, at damianlinktz@hotmail.com