Voices of FairTrade Part2- views from a Palestinian Olive Farmer

As part of Fairtrade week, I was invited to address folk at the Reigate fairtrade group in Surrey. I was one of the two speakers and the reason we were invited was to give real life examples of where trade has helped folk in the developing world out of poverty.

The other speaker was Mahmoud Issa a fairtrade olive farmer from Palestine.Read more about him at this link

http://www.co-operative.coop/en/membership/news/Ground-breaking-move-to-stock-Fairtrade-Palestinian-olive-oil/

It was interesting to listen to Mahmoud as he raised issues that I had discussed with folk on my other blog http://ethnicsupplies.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/how-much-do-folk-in-the-western-world-know-about-fairtrade/

Mahmoud, talked about the challenges that they have had to go through to get their olive oil accepted in The co-operative a UK supermarket, some of these were part of the course you would say such as ensuring that the product is safe, is acceptable to our pallets, this would give it a head start and sustainability in the market.

One of these issues is of compensation. Mahmoud noted that one of the challenges they face in Palestine is the wall that divides Palestine and Israel. This has had the effect that sometimes, only two members of the family can be let through to go and work on the farms on the other side of the wall, sometimes too folk get stranded on the other side of the wall and can't get back for hours until it is time for the wall to be opened.

He mentioned a farm that has lost a big chunk of its farm land to the "wall", this has meant that this land is not available for agriculture. He further sited a man that fell and broke his leg whilst harvesting olives, and because he fell on the wrong side of the wall medical care was not immediately available to him. Faced with such challenges it is no wonder that it has taken them 3 years to perfect their Olive oil he continued.

Mahmoud went on to say that the ideal for him and fellow farmers would be to be able to press their own oil and perhaps now that they have access to the UK market this was achievable. One of the other challenges was lack of storage/preservation methods, which means that the farmers ended up selling their olive very cheaply to neighbouring countries who in turn label it as their own and consequently it loses it's identity.


The issues raised by Mahmoud are incidentally not unique to Palestine and in fact go some way in validating my question as HOW MUCH FOLK IN WEST KNOW ABOUT FAIRTRADE. How do you compensate someone for a broken leg whilst picking Olives?

The other is one of value addition and I think Mahmoud articulated this very well. If the Palestine farmers are able to press their own Olive oil this is bound to increase their income more so than exporting the raw product.

If you use Oilve oil as part of your diet/cooking may I threfore urge you to seek out this particular brand. I am mindful that times are hard for us all and I would like to think that through my blogs I have helped to shed light as to why fairtrade prodcuts may cost a bit more than other varieties.

Please feel free to share your views with me on this matter

Fair Trade Week

The idea behind Fair Trade as far as I understand is to ensure that farmers in the developing world get a fair price for their produce.

But my question today is who decides what is included on the list and what isn't?

For instance in November 2007 I attended an event and happened to sit next to a guy from the Fair Trade organisation. I asked him how the female producers at Ethnic supplies could go about registering with Fair Trade. He looked me in the eye and told me that Textile and handicrafts are not included.

I asked him why and did he realise that he was possibly excluding two thirds of the world’s population from the opportunity of earning a fair wage for their hard work?

This is a figure I plucked out of the air and has no basis in fact per se, but I just wanted to make a point which was that if that is how Fair Trade operates then surely it is an unfair system?

Something else that troubles me is the fact that something like coffee leaves the developing world as a raw material and at that stage it is not worth a lot. The coffee houses in the west process it and add value, and charge whatever they like.

Is that fair or ethical even? How do governments in the developing worlds generate tax, if the real value of something like coffee is not realised until it hits the coffee houses?

I am by no means an expert at these things and I am merely raising them to generate discussion and debate.

Would a system that allowed value addition at base be a much better system for all? It works well here at Ethnic Supplies. Our ladies take whatever they can find useless grasses etc and turn them into these beautiful and useful items


this basket for instance is made from papyrus and raffia, the colour is achieved form dyes found in the root plants I am not aware that any of those raw materials being traded as commodities. However a finished basket like this enables a woman to send her child to school, pay for health care and could be the difference between the family going hungry or not. It makes an excellent bread basket and or bathroom tidy



This table runner is produced from combining raffia and cotton and the colours are from roots of plants. What is exciting about suing cotton in this way is that cotton farmers in Africa in particular were hit with an increase in second hand clothes that are donated by well wishers in the west but end up in markets being sold for very little, not to mention the subsidies that are given to cotton farmers in the US