Fairtrade Day

Mr Marron and his Third Year S.P.H.E. class (2005-2006) organised a Fairtrade Day to raise awareness of Fairtrade.

To this effect Fairtrade coffee and tea was sold during the breaks in the hall, where a range of posters

provided information. Fairtrade gives farmers a fair share in the money that the Western World pays for the produce.

Third Year of 2006-2007 had the following contribution:

Fair Trade-The Real Truth

Martin Luther King Once Said – ‘Before We Leave The Breakfast Table We Will Have Depended On Half The World

This is true. Farmers in third world countries spend hours working everyday picking tea leaves  and coffee beans. They get paid as little as 5 Euro a week. Some people do not even get paid, like in some plantations in the Ivory Coast in west Africa, slaves are used and sold for about 80 Euro. On Fair Trade plantations farmers receive 8.50 a week. In Uganda growers of tea leaves get 9c a kilogram. In Ireland you can get a kilogram of tea for 10 Euro.

Fair Trade began about 30 years ago in small charity shops such as Oxfam. Since then, fair trade products are appearing in different shops across Ireland. Products include coffee, tea, bananas, breakfast cereals, wine, chocolate bars and many more.

Big brands like Nescafe coffee and Chiquite bananas with many other multi-national companies, are making it hard for Fair Trade products to do well. This is caused by a few reasons. Some reasons are Protectionism and the rise and fall of prices for coffee beans and tea leaves etc.

Protectionism is a big problem. Many people say they support Fair Trade but they really still buy from multi-national so the growers still get an unfair price. Most of the money is made in the processing and when Brazil noticed this, they started exporting their processed coffee to the United States. The United States forced Brazil to stop, stating that they would cut off aid to Brazil if this continued. In these ways the profit and money making of big multi-national companies are protected.

Now in communities, shops and schools including St Pauls, are trying to promote awareness of Fair Trade. Consumers can help by buying Fair Trade products and trying to get more shops to sell more Fair Trade products. This will greatly help people in Third World countries such as Africa, India, Ivory-Coast and Brazil as they don’t receive enough money for food, clothes, healthcare and education.

Please help us in our quest to encourage more consumers and shop managers to buy more Fair Trade products. Thank You.

                                                                    By

                                                            Ciaran Hogbin

                                                                      &

                                                          Jonathan Maher