Fair Trade For A Fairer World On Wednesday November 6th I attended a meeting which was held in The Methodist meeting room on Main Street to discuss Fair Trade and what it means for hard working people all around the world. The meeting was addressed by Jo Albertini who is an active lobbyist to the EU where she attempts to get member states to carefully consider the effect that trade and agricultural policies can have on farmers and producers of other non-food commodities in the developing world, and it was quite a sobering experience to learn how powerful interests in Europe, and the USA are seriously impacting on the ability of these farmers and other producers to gain entry into world markets. Not only do they subsidise the production costs for their own farmers but they also subsidise the product price which ensures control over world markets for commodities and this helps in a very big way to perpetuate the horrendous levels of poverty in some developing countries. Another serious problem, which is a more recent development, is the involvement in speculation in commodities by the world’s banks and hedge funds who place bets on the future price of commodities in order to make quick profits. This has had a serious effect globally in that poor countries have had to bear the relentless rise in prices for staple foods such as rice, beans, and cereals, which this legalised form of thievery has led to. We in the richer countries have not been immune from the consequences of the behaviour of the men of greed. We also have seen a relentless rise in the costs of everyday living and we are acutely aware of the recent indefensible rises in energy costs. Energy products are commodities which are also subject to their speculative interests, as are petroleum products. So how can we help to improve matters from where we find ourselves in the windy UK far away from the poverty and serious deprivation of a large part of the world? Well we can all do our bit by buying Fair Trade products whenever we can in order to support those who struggle to make a living despite having to work much harder than ever one of us will ever comprehend, and by supporting local initiatives for Fair Trade such as the farmer’s market which is held in Egremont market hall on the third Friday of each month, where a wide variety of stalls sell products which are locally produced, and where possible with food products they will have been made using Fair Trade ingredients. The ladies who organise this market and put in an awful amount of time and effort to try and make it the success it deserves to be would be delighted to see as many people turning up to support their efforts and to have a cup of tea and a taste of the hearty fare which is on offer. You will even be entertained on your visit as various talented musicians will be taking turns on each occasion to help to create a pleasant experience for the ears. So dear reader if you want to have a nice change from the supermarket experience once in a while why not pop into the next farmer’s market for a different product selection and by doing so you will be helping little by little to improve circumstances for some desperately poor people somewhere. Tom Higgins
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 17:08:35 +0000
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