Fair Trade

The Plantation Question

by Zarah Patriana

Published January 02, 2009 @ 05:21PM PT

One of the main tenets of Fair Trade is to support small-scale artisans and producers, but as the movement has expanded, Fair Trade certifiers began to include certain plantations into the mix. In the Fair Trade controversies section of this blog, I included the Plantation Question as an on-going debate that has been going on in the movement for a while. This morning, my dear friend sent over this article from the Times about Fair Trade tea plantations that once again opens up the debate about allowing plantations into the Fair Trade Certification system.

Supermarkets seeking to promote their ethical buying policies proclaim that their produce is Fairtrade, and customers buy such goods in the belief that they are doing their bit for workers in the developing world.

However, an investigation by The Times suggests that workers on plantations that supply Fairtrade tea are not seeing their lives improve as they should.

While supporters have claimed that allowing plantations, who are notorious for abusing their workers, would encourage plantation owners to improve labor conditions, this article shows that perhaps that is not the case.  Granted, these plantation with Fair Trade certification are better than average planations they are nowhere near the same standards as seen in farmer-run cooperatives.

According to Jonathan Rosenthal, CEO of Oké USA, a Fair Trade banana company says,

Plantations are the legacy of an unfair system where the elite and the wealthy classes denied small producers their land, and small farmers always got the raw end of the deal.

Workers on the plantations in question are suspecting that these plantations only worked to get the certification in order to make themselves appear socially responsible since demand for socially conscious products have increased in demand. More fuel to the Fair Trade-Lite debate.

The problem with plantations and the Fair Trade system might be with the certifiers and the inspection system. In order for a farm, or in this case a plantation to get Fair Trade certification they must get inspected and inspections are usually announced in advance.

“The estate owners can tell the workers not to be critical. It is a harsh system – [the workers] are deeply afraid of the owners because they can lose their job.”

So my question is, should the Fair Trade certification system continue to include plantations? If so, why haven't the certifiers improved the inspection system? According Paola Ghillani, former board member for FLO,

The Fairtrade label has grown so fast, but has forgotten to invest enough in growth management like normal companies.

If the Fair Trade system wants to continue to be a viable alternative trading system, it is going to need to be sure that everything is done according to the book and be sure to keep a watchful eye on who is carrying the Fair Trade label.

What is everyone else's thoughts on this subject? Lets hear it out.