Fair trade
Many everyday goods come from different parts of the world, and most of them are interestingly cheap, which is at the expense of the producers, for example, the farmers. However, international co-operations that deals with trade make a lot of profit while the local farmers continue to be poor. This is usually the situation for most cacao farmers since the farmers generally get less pay for a job well done. Furthermore, children of the farmers face forced labor because most of the workers in the cacao estates are looking for ways to make their ends meet. Moreover, children provide cheap labor. There is an alternative through fair trade to ensure that the farmers get reasonable pay for the work they do, and this, in turn, will reduce the rate of child labor. This paper, therefore, talks about how fair trade ensures that the farmers get reasonable pay for the labor they provide in the production of cacao. Fair trade goes a long way in ensuring that the farmers get value for their work.
Cacao farmers are powerless in the face of the free market, and fair trade seeks to change that. The farmers are helpless because the production of cacao requires a lot of hard work from the farmers, yet the farmers earn little money from, and this is due to speculation in the financial market (Sandra, 2015). Additionally, the farmers have little to no influence on the pricing of cacao in the market. The production of cacao is also affected by changes in temperature leading to unstable yields. Fairtrade helps farmers to get into cooperatives that are democratically organized that enable them to know the actual value of their product, and therefore to make it easier for the farmers to negotiate for the prices (Ricardo, Gunhild, 2018). Furthermore, the farmers also have access to credit and to learn from each other by sharing information within the cooperatives, and therefore, they can enrich their livelihoods.
Another component of fair trade is that the farmers can determine the minimum price and the premiums of the fair trade through cooperatives. Minimum price refers to the minimum amount of money that farmers are paid when their products are paid. This knowledge helps the farmer to determine whether to indulge in the fair trade or not. Furthermore, if the farmers agree on a minimum price, the chances of the farmers getting lower pay (Donovan, Stoian, Foundjem & Degrande. 2016) Additionally, the farmers also get to decide on how the premiums received from fair trade premiums are to be utilized. The farmers can agree that the premiums are to be used to facilitate their children’s school fees. In cases where the incentive is a large amount, the farmers can build schools to foster the education of the children in the community, thereby ensuring every child has access to education thus no child labor.
Fair trade ensures that the farmers have a stable source of income, and this improves a whole family’s opportunities. Moreover, it also minimizes the risk of exploitive child labor. It enables farmers globally to improve their working conditions, the standard of living, and the farmer’s confidence because it ensures farmers are treated correctly. Fair trade does help not only the individual farmers but also the whole community. Therefore, fair trade guarantees farmers a reasonable pay for their work.