Global Trade Mailing List Archive

["Farmers' Link" <<address removed>>]

A contribution from another shadow desperately trying to keep up with the 
debate!

Farmers Link gathered farmer case studies from around the world, including 
one from Vanuatu where producers responded to the demand for a specialist 
indigenous medicinal crop, kava.  Its lucrative appeal meant that everybody 
planted it in the hope they would reap the rewards but other countries also 
wished to cash in and the product was simultaneously unfairly discredited. 
The market slumped and farmers in Vanuatu have had to return to their 
conventional crops, reliable albeit limited.

Global trade is over-rated as a development solution.  Of course there are 
examples where it may have worked well but it tends to favour corporate 
concerns and in view of sustainability we should be increasingly wary of 
solutions that encourage unnecessary transportation of goods.  For 
specialist products the rush to grow can leave many producers in a far 
worse situation than if they can be supported towards growing for a more 
local and reliable market.

Dfid could encourage local marketing by developing infrastructure using 
local labour, thereby providing people with a source of income with which 
to buy goods.  I read of an excellent EU sponsored project that  generated 
employment by improving roads (not tarmac or requiring external materials 
or technical company input from other countries).  Not only were markets 
more accessible as a consequence but also people could then take some pride 
in sustaining themselves.

Pride is another issue that I'd like to mention with respect to 
Fairtrade.  Agricultural workers are often relegated to fairly low status 
despite producing the most essential goods.  For banana producers in 
Dominica the premium received for Fairtrade produce enables visible 
improvements for the benefit of the community (such as bus shelters and 
school desks) so that the growers can take a genuine pride in what they are 
able to contribute.  In an ideal world all goods would be fairly traded, 
wherever they originate, and the products themselves might be the source of 
pride but the Fairtrade premiums have obviously encouraged a higher regard 
for the role of agriculture and avoids the debilitating sense of dependency 
that can occur if outside agencies simply make benevolent contributions.

Hetty Selwyn
Co-ordinator for Farmers' Link


Farmers Link
49a High St
Watton
Thetford
IP25 6AB
Tel: 01953 889100
Please note we are gradually switching to new email addresses to overcome 
spam problems
<address removed>
www.farmerslink.org.uk

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