The thorny Tara tree is weathered by the climate of the Peruvian high plateaus. Even before the Inca times its seeds were already used for dying fabrics, tanning leather or making medicines. Over the last few years this tree has become part of an impressive boom thanks to the growing demand for natural ingredients and raw materials in the processing industry. For some farmers’ organisations in Peru that boom is a boon.
While bananas are curved, the banana business is crooked. Cutthroat competition, social exploitation and a lack of ecological cultivation are standing issues. But how are these brown spots on the ‘green gold’ doing today?
With almost a quarter of the global population and approximately 10% annual growth over the last 20 years, China has become the foremost power at the beginning of the third millennium. A middle class has emerged over the last years which closely resembles Europe and the United States in terms of buying behaviour. This change, which is both cultural and economic, goes hand in hand with new demands from younger generations, which are sensitive to social and environmental issues.
The Congolese province of South Kivu is known as a dangerous region where violence and looting are the order of the day. This makes it hard for local coffee growers to manage their coffee plantations or to sell their coffee at a good price. RAEK (Regroupement des Agriculteurs et Eleveurs de Kabare) was established in 1992. The organisation defends the interests of smallholders in the Kabare territory and supports their value chain activities.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has not witnessed the same expansion of fair trade as neighbouring countries. This is mainly due to the violence that has thrown the country in a state of unrest. The situation is changing. In the province of South Kivu, a coffee cooperative, SOPACDI (Solidarité Paysanne pour la Promotion des Actions Café et Développement Intégral), has been involved for many years in an economic and social development process that is based on values of solidarity and sharing.
“Climate change is not fair. In fact, developing countries have contributed the least to this growing problem and are currently the most affected.” This is a finding that Kyoto protocol negotiators could not negate and therefore they have made provisions for carbon credits for the South. Also the fair and sustainable trade sector is exploring how carbon credits can provide producer partners with the necessary resources to fight the negative effects of climate change.
Nearly 25 years after the fall of the Wall and the rushed transition to a free market economy, fair trade products are gradually finding their way to consumers in Eastern Europe. Step by step, with limited resources but with great enthusiasm, an ever-increasing group of activists is working on the path ahead.
Over the last few decades, palm oil has steadily been on the rise and worldwide it has become the most important vegetable oil. NGOS and environmental activists are very worried. For many years tropical forests have been destroyed at an alarming rate to make room for oil palm plantations. Can this orange gold be sustainably cultivated?
Coffee culture in South Kivu has been long neglected because of the lasting conflict in East Congo, but in recent years new dynamics have emerged. With the support of NGOs, fair trade organisations and BTC’s Trade for Development Centre two cooperatives enthusiastically pave the road. Read the project sheet SOPACDI Read the project sheet RAEK […]
This study carried out by IPSOS in the name of the Trade for Development Centre (TDC) aims to give an overview of the availability of sustainable banana, cocoa, coffee and tea products in the assortments of major Belgian supermarkets. The 4 product categories (bananas – coffee – tea – cocoa) were chosen as the focus for this research by TDC, because these are tropical commodities produced in the South and because these are core categories for the labels which are internationally recognized as sustainable labels.
