Food price crisis – can Fairtrade help?

Chocolate prices could be up 20% next year! Perhaps this might provoke millions of women around the world to campaign against the disasterous market gambling on the value of food?

In 2010 food prices have been on the rise again. We could soon see more riots worldwide as we did in 2007/8.

Evidence is gathering that it is the speculation on food prices that is fueling the massive leap in the cost of basic commodoties such as wheat and rice. High prices mean that the world’s poorest can’t afford basic foods despite their availability. During the last crisis this resulted in the malnutrition and even deaths of millions.

Can Fairtrade help in this crisis?

Buying Fairtrade still helps
Photo by Kaihsu Tai

As I look at some new jars of Clipper Fairtrade  and Organic Coffee and Decaf Coffee on my desk, my hope is that buying food like this can still be a voice for sustainable development, even in greedy times.

Will guaranteeing a minimum profit for the farmer mean that Fairtrade prices aren’t so volatile at the consumer end? I’m not sure. Will small farmers (who make up 75% of the world’s poor) always at the mercy of fat cats creaming the best off the profits and leaving economic devastation in their wake? Again, it’s difficult to say. This year has already seen the price of coffee at its highest for 12 years, and cocoa is a staggering 25% more expensive than it was during the food crisis in 2008.

However what Fairtrade can do is bring confidence to the farmer: if they are guaranteed a minimum profit they can afford to budget through hard times and have a greater chance of buying food for their families when prices shoot up; and they can think about investing in the future for their communities, thus helping to lift themselves out of the poverty trap.

So while chaos may reign, Fairtrade farmers will have some reason to feel safer. You can pick up some of their Fairtrade produce here.