Focusing on establishing equal compensation within the global trade market, representatives from more than 100 student advocacy groups from around world attended forums, workshops and panel discussions over the weekend during the fourth annual United Students for Fair Trade International Convergence at Fenway High School.
The lack of consumer knowledge about the fair trade movement, which lobbies for fair compensation for people and companies who grow common products, such as bananas and cocoa beans, is one of the biggest obstacles to the growth of fair trade, said Ida Benedetto, a history and photography student at New School University. About a tenth of one percent of the $3.6 trillion in goods traded worldwide is traded under the rules of the Fair Trade Regulation, she said.
Consumers do not always understand how products they buy get to store shelves, said Benedetto, who has spent time photographing coffee bean farmers in Guatemala and tea growers in India.
“Whoever hands you that cup of coffee isn’t the first person to touch it,” she said. “It’s important for everyone to realize that.
“They need options to be able to change their consumptive habits,” she added.
“In general, I think there needs to be an increase in awareness,” said Zach Taylor, a Midwest coordinator for the United Students for Fair Trade group, which lobbies for legislation. “A lot has been done at the college level. There has been a resurgence in the last five years. Student education is a good way to bring that into the fold.”
Growers from countries such as Ecuador and Ghana who attended the event said places where fair trade advocates have succeeded in getting better prices for their goods have brought improvements in their communities’ environmental, educational and health standards.
Massachusetts-based fair trade banana company Oké offers co-operative farms 30 percent company ownership, giving producers a stake in the supply chain that guarantees their wages. The added premium on bananas has provided the farmers with medical insurance, educational funding and sanitation improvements, said Leonardo Bravo, a farmer with co-op El Guabo and vice president of the Association of Small Banana Producers in Ecuador, which is associated with Oké.
“[Neither the owners nor workers] had medical insurance before, but now, owner and worker families have it,” Bravo said in Spanish through a translator. “Education has improved, and now we have the money to invest in schools.”
Saying fair trade includes more than just food products, Fair Trade Sports spokesman Scott James, whose company does not use sweatshops to produce sports apparel and equipment, said his company aims to outfit as many sports teams as possible with fair trade gear.