As sales of Fairtrade products continue to grow around the world, the need for understanding the impact increases. Fairtrade International (FLO) released ‘Monitoring the Scope and Benefits of Fairtrade 2012’ in January 2013, a compendium of data and summaries of key research exploring the impacts of Fairtrade. Click here for the full report and other Fairtrade research from FLO.
“Fairtrade is making a difference for over a million farmers and workers and their families, as this report shows,” said Harriet Lamb, Chief Executive at Fairtrade International. “The rich data here gives insights into our core strengths – for example our world class work with smallholder organisations – as well as those areas where we need to improve, such as in furthering workers’ empowerment and progress toward a living wage.”
The report highlights the importance of small farmer organisations in the Fairtrade system. By the end of 2011, the total number of small-scale farmers in the Fairtrade system reached 1 million with a 26 percent increase in sales revenues on Fairtrade terms.
Other key insights include:
- The overall number of producer organisations increased 10 percent, and the total number of farmers and workers in the system increased 13 percent between 2010 and 2011.
- Smallholder organisations reported a 30 percent increase in sales revenues on Fairtrade terms, and a 26 percent increase Fairtrade Premium in the time period under review.
- Challenges in the worker sector. While the data show strong growth across many indicators for small producer organisations, plantations and other hired labour set-ups in some product areas continued to sell only a relatively small share of their production as Fairtrade. Recognising this, Fairtrade International is beginning implementation of a new Hired Labour Strategy to increase impact and ensure greater benefits for workers (Read the full story here).
From sugar farmers in Guyana to banana workers in Ghana, information from 990 out of 991 producer organisations make this report the most complete ever. The report contains over 100 charts and graphs showing where Fairtrade farmers and workers are located (top country is Kenya with 173,800 farmers and workers), and information about production and sales, and how producers use the Fairtrade Premium (strong preference among small farmer organisations to invest in business development).
The publication of the monitoring data is part of our commitment to compliance with the ISEAL Impacts Code. The ISEAL Impacts Code requires member standards systems to develop credible monitoring and evaluation systems.
You can find the full report, along with a number of other reports, on our Impact page.
