Fairtrade International has released its annual report, Driving Sales, Deepening Impact, which reveals that 2015 saw significant growth in sales of coffee (18%), bananas (12%) and cocoa (27%).
Last year, says the report, there were 1.6 million Fairtrade farmers and workers across 75 countries, and they benefited from an estimated €138 million in Fairtrade Premium – the extra money paid on top of the selling price that farmers and workers invest in business or communities projects of their choice.
Marike de Peña, board chair of Fairtrade International, commented: “Farmers and workers need to significantly scale up their Fairtrade sales if they are to escape from poverty. Increased Fairtrade sales are the biggest driver of economic improvement, enabling producer organizations to secure the revenues they need for workers to be paid a living wage and for farmers and artisanal miners to earn a living income.”
The report also highlights how Fairtrade is responding to the needs of farmers and workers by ramping up its work on climate change, textile and cotton supply chains, gender equality and child protection.
“Fairtrade was born from a grassroots movement for trade justice,” added de Peña. “We haven’t forgotten our roots, and we continue to campaign against policies that leave the most vulnerable farmers and workers unprotected. Our innovative work on textiles and climate change, for example, reflects our focus on advocacy and partnering with other organizations.”
