Benefits to Producers and Traders in Fair Trade Coffee

Presently there are about twenty Labeling initiatives. FLO Labeling Initiatives are responsible for the labeling of FairTrade produce. Transfair USA is one such Labeling Initiative. While the Producer Networks coordinate the work of hundreds of individual coffee cooperatives and worker unions, there are three major Producer Networks:

• AFN (African Fairtrade Network)
• CLAC (Coordinadora Latinoamericana y del Caribe de Comercio Justo)
• NAP (Network of Asian Producers)

African Fairtrade Network

The AFN was formed during the “4th Assembly of Africa commodity producer organizations” in 2004. Though AFN is a newly formed network for African FairTrade farmers of coffee and other commodities, it has received some promising and hope-raising funding form notable benefactors through grants. Recently Comic Relief has granted close to 10M to its FairTrade expansion in the African continent. Presently there is expected to be over 200 members groups in AFN. This represents more a more sustainable environment for African marginalized workers to produce quality coffee and receive a consistent monetary return on their coffee-growing labors.

Under Fair Trade contracts the working relationship between producers and traders insures FairTrade coffee growers as well as distributors benefits which enhances sustainability for both producers and traders. Generally, one of the standards for FairTrade coffee growers is that they are small unions, co-ops and organizations which are underprivileged in their development: “wage workers in the South, who have been restrained in their economical and / or social development by the conditions of trade” (FairTrade, “Producers Standards“).

Fair Trade Benefits Producers and Traders

Traders such as Starbucks, Green Mountain Coffee and other Specialty Coffee Traders are benefited by the FairTrade Labeling Organization International, since it allows them to know the benefits they are having on specific coffee growers with whom they enter into a contractual agreement in order to obtain the best specialty coffee beans. At the same time, they are willing, under the FairTrade Coffee Label, to offer a set price for each pound of coffee while at the same time to give to individual coffee growers at least ten cents more per pound for coffee contract to individual coffee growers for their labors.

The extra recompense to coffee growers insures the quality of product and sustains the working relationship with contracted coffee growers. This has become possible because of FLO. FLO governs this overall agreements, while individual Labeling Initiatives, like FairTrade USA and the Green Coffee Association acts in the role of arbitrator for individual contract arbitration between producers and traders, making sure that previous contract agreements are met throughout the contract.

ust as specialty coffee traders are benefited by FairTrade Coffee Organization , so are individual coffee producers, who belong to a registered FLO network in their region as AFN. the individual FlO networks oversee that each producer meets certain criteria to reap the benefits of the FairTrade agreement and that these benefits are shared with workers, the cooperatives and unions they work with.

Fair Trade producers depend upon their local FairTrade networks as AFN and FLO for overseeing that the criteria for being a FairTrade producer or trader are met.
The growth of the FairTrade Certified Organizations , which is the responsibility of FLO-CERT GMBH. According to the FairTrade recent yearly reports there has been a steady increase of FairTrade Certified Organizations between 2001-2006, with a 20% increase per year, from 224 in 2001 to 569 in 2006.

The most impressive benefit for both producers and traders in Fair Trade Coffee is that particular traders have the opportunity to contract with specific FairTrade certified producers in order to reap the benefit of insuring the quality of their coffee for consumers while at the same time knowing that in most instances, they keep struggling coffee producers in business. This is the sought after benefit they give to these marginalized farmers.

Fair Trade Coffee works for both producer and trader. It raises the quality of struggling coffee-growers ability of sustain their work forces and their dependencies, while simultaneously insuring hope for future coffee-growers will have willing coffee traders to buy and market their specialty coffee beans.