What is Fair Trade?
What is Fair Trade?
Fair trade is when farmers, and everyone who was a part of the production process for anything, get paid the correct amount that they are supposed to get. This prevents people in third world countries from getting scammed or exploited. In a capitalist society, this is a huge problem as the people higher up who do the least amount of work get the most money while the people who are lower and do the most work get the least money. This is what Fair Trade works to undo.
Fair Trade is important in order to increase global equity and equality. The gap between the rich and the poor will reduce due to the input of Fair Trade by allowing a larger percentage of the revenues to go to the farmers and producers rather than the companies and traders.
Farmers working at a plantation.
Benefits of Fair Trade?
What are the benefits of fairtrade?
FAIR TRADE BENEFITS ALL GLOBAL CITIZENS IN SOME FORM OR ANOTHER.
Consumers:
- Improves the relationship between the consumers and the producers of the products.
- This creates awareness and informs the consumers of the need for social justice and the opportunities of many solutions. Consumers can buy from a wide range of great products that are in line with their values and principles. This would mean a large variety of goods from all around the world is the selection range for the consumers. It increases the probability that the consumer finds exactly what they’re looking for.
TRADERS AND COMPANIES:
- Increases their credibility. An increase in credibility means the consumers trust these companies more and the sales of the companies or traders will also increase.
- Ensures their trade has a positive impact on the people at the end of the chain. When lending a helping hand to the producers of the goods, the company’s staff will also see a lift in morale as they feel like they’re doing something good.
PRODUCERS:
- Stable prices to cover all production costs.
- Market access to allow for an inclusive trade.
- Partnership to allow producers to be involved with decisions that affect them.
- Empowerment of farmers and workers to allow for a better price for their goods and more sustainable lifestyles.
Vietnam
Vietnam
Location
Vietnam is located in Southeast Asia, bordering Laos, Cambodia, and China.
Languages
The official language of Vietnam is Vietnamese, however the language has been influenced by all the country's neighbors. It holds Chinese and Thai aspects as well as Austronesian languages.
Economy
From 1954 to 1975, the country had been divided into 3 layers of economy. The bottom layer focused on agricultural products such as rice, majority of the middle layer was mining and rubber plantations. The top layer consisted of wartime.
In the 2000s, owing to its long coastline, Vietnam has an excellent access to trade and access to marine resources. However, its main source of income still is based on agriculture and mining.
Vietnamese Agriculture
AGRICULTURE IN VIETNAM
One-third of Vietnam's continually changing economy is made up of the agriculture industry. 13.96% of the country's GDP comes from agriculture, showing that it is a major part of the country’s economy. Vietnam has one of the fastest-growing agricultural sectors within the Asia Pacific region. The area of farmland makes up 39.25% of the total land area of Vietnam. With nearly 20.47 million people working in agriculture, the agriculture industry accounts for 39.45% of total jobs in Vietnam. The main crops grown in Vietnam are tea, coffee rice, and maize.
Cashews in Vietnam
Unethical Practices
Unethical Practices
Many villagers in the countryside are desperately poor, amid the economic boom, and 60% of the citizens of Vietnam are still farmers. Sometimes, low crop prices cause them to suffer.
Many farmers are not very educated and hence don’t know the actual market value of their crops. This leads to them being paid very little money for all their hard work for growing and cultivating crops that take a few months to a year.
The Vietnamese people are seeking to diversify their farming and not be as dependent on a single cash crop like coffee. This is because extensive farming of one type of crop can lead to the soil becoming nutrient deficient, leading to loss of business for the farmers.
How Fair Trade Helps
How does Fair trade help vietnam?
Fair Trade's key values include maintaining a fair selling price, sustainable trade partnerships, ensuring fair and reasonable working practices, and helping the environment sustainably grow.
- Any farmers who are a part of Fair Trade get fair prices for their hard work as there is a Fair-Trade minimum price for all crops. This protects farmers in Vietnam from fluctuating market prices in order to make sure that they don’t have losses.
- The farmers able to use this money in order to invest for their children’s future in education or outside of the farm. Additionally, the increased income motivates these farmers in Vietnam to produce more crops in order to get more money.
- Fair Trade also helps the environment. They make sure that the soil is fertile, safe from erosion, waste is disposed or managed properly, and they help farmers continually monitor the affect they have on the environment.
- Fair Trade allows producers in countries like Vietnam to have equitable and sustainable trade relationships with exporters or corporations. It makes small and medium sized companies in Vietnam credible sources while still allowing them to be a part of an decision making process.
