Is there anything special about the flavor of Fairtrade coffee? What is the way of Fairtrade coffee?

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Take coffee as an example. Coffee is the second largest commodity in global trade after oil, with tens of millions of people engaged in coffee cultivation, processing and trade. In Ethiopia, 1 / 5 of the population depends on coffee cultivation or processing for a living, accounting for 65% of the country's total export value, but many small farmers are getting poorer and poorer due to unfair trade.

Coffee trade is monopolized by multinational enterprises in several developed countries, and the price is also determined by the futures market affected by them. Small farmers have no bargaining power in the face of multinational enterprises. When prices are low, the agricultural production of small farmers often lose all their money.

In addition, many international trade commodities have to face numerous trade barriers, for example, rich countries provide subsidies or help dumping to farmers or enterprises in their own countries, making the products of small farmers in poor countries lose their competitiveness in the international market, coupled with the exploitation of middlemen, production costs are rising, and small farmers work hard in the process of planting, but it is not a change in their lives.

Small farmers struggle to survive in the unfair trade system

Poor small farmers exploited by unjust institutions are also fighting for change, as in the case of SOFA, a small organic farmers' association in Sri Lanka.

The small Organic Farmers Association SOFA operates on the principle of fair trade. The association has a fair trade community development fund to support local women to participate in self-employment programs and to make tea-picking baskets for self-reliance. SOFA also enables the children of small farmers to receive pre-school education, benefiting the whole community.

Some fair trade methods

Farmers set up and operate cooperatives to sell products to non-governmental organizations or companies at "fair" prices that can cover production costs and maintain a basic standard of living.

Farmers establish direct contact with foreign buyers, thus influencing commodity prices more forcefully.

Buyers pay a lump sum in advance and sign a longer-term purchase contract to protect the livelihood of small farmers, and farmers can better plan their production.

The use of environmentally friendly planting methods to ensure that the soil quality of the land is maintained.

Return part of the profits to the community and improve planting skills and production and processing techniques.

To set up a community development fund, farmers will decide for themselves how to promote the long-term sustainable development of the community, such as the construction of schools, safe water facilities, clinics, and so on.