Testimonials of Fair Trade Producers
Ousmane Tiendrébéogo
National Farmers Union, Burkina Faso
Leopold Lokoussou
Plateforme Nationale des Organisations Paysannes et de Producteurs Agricoles du Bénin, Bénin
Organisation website: www.pnoppa-benin.org/Nibir Bordoloi
Ambootia Tea Group, Darjeeling, India
Esther Mwanyama
Bombolulu Workshops and Cultural Center, Kenya
“As a woman, being involved with Fair Trade is very helpful. They transport the coffee by lorry so we don’t have to carry it on our backs. We understand the coffee business now and Fair Trade has taught us how to improve the quality of our coffee. It also helps women sell their coffee, we have a good market now. Fair Trade is also giving women freedom of speech.”
Jennipher Wettaka
Gumutindo Coffee Co-operative, Mount Elgon, Uganda
“Fair Trade has has a huge impact on me and our communities in many ways. Beginning with improving the standard of living, changing the mind-set of little or no regard for the environment, bringing people of common objectives together, empowering producers and communities, and the list goes on. In short, Fair Trade has proven to be our window of hope in this global environment.”
Conrad James
banana farmer, St. Lucia, Windwards Islands
“Fair Trade is not just for earning money: it also makes a change in people’s mentality possible. Naturally, it is also a matter of fair prices: Fairtrade premiums give our members the opportunity to learn and grow. However, beyond these purely financial considerations, Fair Trade is also a life philosophy. It is a way of thinking, which allows people to rebuild their place in their specific environment. I genuinely believe that this vision will fundamentally change the way the world is turning.”
Hiderico Zavala Bocangel
Executive of Oro Verde, cooperative of coffee and cocoa producers, Peru
“Working with the Fair Trade network represented a very important positive change for us. It is about new revenues that allow us greater economic stability and the possibility to plan and develop our work. Our desire is to maintain our connection with Fair Trade, thus enabling us to deliver some potential that otherwise we could not develop.”
Marcelo Pallas
Handicraft producer, Uruguay
“With Fair Trade, we work more together. Biological methods of production creates more work, but we get better price for our crops. We also diversify our production. This way, farmers can grow other products within two harvest periods and sell them on the market we have established here, rather than they can live on agriculture, without having to leave the region.”
Sompoi Chansang
manager of Rice Foods Surin, cooperative of rice growers, Thailand
“Our mission and goals are to improve the living standards of the artisans, who work with, through Fair Trade craft production guided by the Fair Trade principles. The Fair Trade model merges the ethos that the business had when it was an NGO, with the empowerment model of trade and business. We continue to grow, proud of our international business as we look forward to the future.”