Trade for Development Centre is a programme of Enabel, the Belgian development agency.
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Author: Morgane

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Articles (en)

Say it with flowers

In 2007, Hilary Benn, Britain’s International Development Secretary asked consumers to buy roses from Kenya because importing African flowers is better for the environment in view of the fact they are not grown in heated greenhouses. He added that it makes it easier for African people to make a decent living.
But are his arguments right? How sustainable are flowers from the South and how good are the working conditions? And what is fair trade’s role in this?

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Articles (en)

Fair trade from Europe. Fair trade no longer an exclusive North-South story

Over the last forty years, fair trade has proved to be a strong development model built on a cup of coffee from Latin America and a chocolate bar from Africa. It is a way for consumers to fight existing inequalities between the North and the South. But what about our own farmers who are also victims of the existing agricultural model? Isn’t a Greek farmer entitled to a fair price for his produce? These issues have occupied European fair trade movements for a while. Over the last few years more and more concrete initiatives in the area have emerged.

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Articles (en)

Fair trade brings hope to vanilla producers

Few crops are as labour-intensive and time-demanding as vanilla. After saffron, vanilla is the most expensive spice in the world. Still, it brings farmers in Madagascar and elsewhere little more than dire poverty. The vanilla value chain is a complex one and competition from synthetic vanilla is deadly. Fortunately, thanks to fair trade, some vanilla producers are hopeful for the future.

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Articles (en)

Made in Africa, sold in Africa : The challenges for organic farming and fair trade on the African market

The time that the production of organic and fair food was a business of farmers in the poor South and consumption was the business of the rich in the North is over. Some countries in the South with a growing middle class are opening up to sustainable consumption. We explore the emerging African organic and fair trade market.

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Articles (en)

Fair wages for farm labourers? Fair trade in search of better employment conditions in the weakest link of its value chain

Consumers relate fair trade to products of ‘small farmers’ who work in cooperatives. This image is not really correct because already in 1994 a first large tea plantation became fair trade certified. Twenty years later fair trade labels source bananas, tea, flowers and wine from large farm businesses, while the debate whether this is the way to go is still raging. Central to the debate is the living wage concept, a fair wage for all workers – including seasonal workers

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News

Made in Misery: Ethics in the garment industry after Rana Plaza

1138 Bangladeshi workers were found dead between loads of garments destined for the European and American markets after the six-floor Rana Plaza complex in the industrial outskirts of Dhaka collapsed on 24 April 2013. Asia’s largest industrial catastrophe – after Bhopal – did not only disclose construction shortcomings but also the race to the bottom in the garment sector, which this time led to a deadly finish. How have authorities, businesses, trade unions and NGOs responded? Does the consumer have any sustainable alternatives?

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Articles (en)

Better market access for producers in four TDC projects

Better market access for producers in four Trade for Development Centre projects. What do Palestinian cooperatives, Peruvian loggers, Bolivian organic farmers and Congolese coffee growers have in common? They all look for a way out of poverty and conflict by strengthening their organisation and searching for markets for their improved products. To achieve that dream each of them received a real boost of the Trade for Development Centre.

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Inquieries

Market study: Fairtrade products in Kenya

Fairtrade, the most widely recognised ethical label in the world was launched in Kenya in 2013. That’s why the TDC commissioned a study that will enable Fairtrade stakeholders to have a better understanding of consumers’ awareness and attitudes towards Fairtrade or ethical trade in general. The study highlights the shopping criteria and media consumption which define the potential for Fairtrade products in the Kenyan market.

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Interviews (en)

Fairytale: small fair trade gifts for all occasions

Barbara Brugmans is a woman of heart and extraordinary energy, and in her own way she makes her own contribution to cooperation with and for the benefit of women all over the world. Just ten years ago, she started her own online shop for fair trade almonds. In 2010 her efforts were rewarded with a Be Fair Award from the Trade for Development Centre.

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Interviews (en)

Belvas, a passion for chocolate and exports

Who would have thought that the pralines of a small mouscronnoise chocolate factory on the verge of bankruptcy, bought out almost ten years ago, would become an essential product in organic grocery shops around the world and find its place among the greatest Belgian chocolate makers, while respecting the principles of fair trade?

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