No-one watching the film Hotel Rwanda can fail to be inspired by the true story in which the hotel manager shelters and saves 1,000 refugees from murdering mobs during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
I have just stayed in that very hotel in Rwanda. And visiting that small country, with its lush rolling hills and red earth, it is hard not to be humbled by how people are pulling together to regenerate their economy and rebuild their society.
A couple of hours out of the capital is the village of Maraba. Its bustling bank, its hairdressing 'salons' and the nursery school packed with rows of gap-teethed kids are lively testimony to the economic revival that has been stimulated by the villagers' coffee co-operative.
Ten years ago, this village was among the poorest in the country. Ten years ago, there was not one washing station (the first step in the process of taking coffee from the bean to our cups) in Rwanda, and its aptly named 'café ordinaire' fetched less than ordinary prices.
Today, the villagers are winning prizes and commanding handsome premiums for the finest speciality coffee. Their Fairtrade-certified co-operative runs four washing stations and a laboratory to test and improve coffee quality. And they now roast and sell their coffee across Rwanda, as well as exporting to, among others, Union Hand-Roasted, which sells Rwanda Maraba Fairtrade coffee in our shops.
The morality of playing fair by such farmers is clear. But as a Fairtrade Foundation report released this week argues, smallholders are also key to tackling the global food crisis. Indeed, supporting smallholders is good for everyone - they can grow the food we need, secure long term supply chains, earn crucial export income and stimulate economic growth and development.
Of course, these are tough times for British consumers. But they are desperate times for millions of farmers overseas, squeezed by falling orders, increased difficulty in getting credit and rising food and fuel prices. In such times, Fairtrade is needed more than ever.
Fortunately, the enthusiasm among grassroots supporters (organised around 415 Fairtrade towns, 90 universities, 2,400 schools and more than 5,000 faith groups) continues to flourish. And consumers remain willing to buy - 25% said they had bought Fairtrade foods in the past month, up from 23% last year, in IGD's latest survey.
There's a risk corporate nerves will start jangling and buyers will get distracted from the ethical agenda by the focus on price. But to date, companies are holding firm. The Co-operative Group, buoyed up by continuing healthy sales, even plans to extend its range, CEO Peter Marks said recently. To prove it, a new Fairtrade Palestinian olive oil from Equal Exchange is heading for the shelves in early March. Starbucks, meanwhile, recently committed to switch all its espresso coffee in the UK to Fairtrade.
Businesses must remain focused on the bottom line. But the bottom line is that Fairtrade works - for vulnerable smallholders, for consumers and for companies. So if any supermarket buyer or importer is getting butterflies about sticking their neck too far out and playing fair, I can recommend watching Hotel Rwanda - it's guaranteed to bolster anyone's courage.
Harriet Lamb is executive director of the Fairtrade Foundation.
I have just stayed in that very hotel in Rwanda. And visiting that small country, with its lush rolling hills and red earth, it is hard not to be humbled by how people are pulling together to regenerate their economy and rebuild their society.
A couple of hours out of the capital is the village of Maraba. Its bustling bank, its hairdressing 'salons' and the nursery school packed with rows of gap-teethed kids are lively testimony to the economic revival that has been stimulated by the villagers' coffee co-operative.
Ten years ago, this village was among the poorest in the country. Ten years ago, there was not one washing station (the first step in the process of taking coffee from the bean to our cups) in Rwanda, and its aptly named 'café ordinaire' fetched less than ordinary prices.
Today, the villagers are winning prizes and commanding handsome premiums for the finest speciality coffee. Their Fairtrade-certified co-operative runs four washing stations and a laboratory to test and improve coffee quality. And they now roast and sell their coffee across Rwanda, as well as exporting to, among others, Union Hand-Roasted, which sells Rwanda Maraba Fairtrade coffee in our shops.
The morality of playing fair by such farmers is clear. But as a Fairtrade Foundation report released this week argues, smallholders are also key to tackling the global food crisis. Indeed, supporting smallholders is good for everyone - they can grow the food we need, secure long term supply chains, earn crucial export income and stimulate economic growth and development.
Of course, these are tough times for British consumers. But they are desperate times for millions of farmers overseas, squeezed by falling orders, increased difficulty in getting credit and rising food and fuel prices. In such times, Fairtrade is needed more than ever.
Fortunately, the enthusiasm among grassroots supporters (organised around 415 Fairtrade towns, 90 universities, 2,400 schools and more than 5,000 faith groups) continues to flourish. And consumers remain willing to buy - 25% said they had bought Fairtrade foods in the past month, up from 23% last year, in IGD's latest survey.
There's a risk corporate nerves will start jangling and buyers will get distracted from the ethical agenda by the focus on price. But to date, companies are holding firm. The Co-operative Group, buoyed up by continuing healthy sales, even plans to extend its range, CEO Peter Marks said recently. To prove it, a new Fairtrade Palestinian olive oil from Equal Exchange is heading for the shelves in early March. Starbucks, meanwhile, recently committed to switch all its espresso coffee in the UK to Fairtrade.
Businesses must remain focused on the bottom line. But the bottom line is that Fairtrade works - for vulnerable smallholders, for consumers and for companies. So if any supermarket buyer or importer is getting butterflies about sticking their neck too far out and playing fair, I can recommend watching Hotel Rwanda - it's guaranteed to bolster anyone's courage.
Harriet Lamb is executive director of the Fairtrade Foundation.
No comments yet