FairTrade Producer Story

By FairTrade America
Producer’s Name: Johnson Kihara
Location: Kenya
Co-op name: Gacharage Tea Factory
Commodity: Tea

“Johnson Kihara is one out of approximately 5,000 tea farmers and members of Gacharagae Tea Factory some 200 kilometres north of Nairobi in Kenya. Here the farmers own their own land, harvest and pluck their own tea and deliver it to collection centers before the tea is eventually processed into black tea in the large factory close to village of Mununga.

The factory is owned jointly by the farmers through a loan which they took in 2000 with the purpose of increasing the production, raising the value of their product and generating higher revenues through better access to an international market. In 2006, the farmers chose to certify their production according to international Fairtrade standards in order to achieve a better economic, social and environmental development within both the production and at the community level. Through recurrent inspections, standards compliance are being checked to make sure that development is moving in the right direction. However, sales of the Fairtrade certified tea is crucial – without sales, development may cease.

In 2015, Gacharage Fairtrade sales amounted to just three percent of their total production. The rest was sold as conventional tea and thus without the Fairtrade premium that every kilo of sold Fairtrade certified tea otherwise generates. Despite these low sales, Fairtrade premium through their sales amounted to almost 150,000 USD, funds that the farmers have chosen to invest in e.g. trainings on sustainable production, road improvements, electricity, water supply, new classrooms, school material, scholarships to students and a number of income generating projects.”

Celebrate Co-op & Fair Trade Month with us all throughout October!

FairTrade Spotlight: Canaan Palestine Olive Oil

FairTrade Spotlight: Canaan Palestine Olive Oil

October is Fair Trade Month, the month Canaan was founded in 2004, and the start of the olive harvest in Palestine. What began as a belief that farmers deserve dignity and fair access to markets has grown into a network of more than 2,400 farmers across 52 cooperatives, sustaining families and the fabric of Palestinian agriculture.

Fair trade in Palestine is more than a pricing model. It establishes collective infrastructure. A portion of every liter of olive oil sold contributes to village funds. These funds are controlled locally and support projects such as schools, agricultural equipment, and community development.

Since 2006, more than $1,210,000 USD has been invested back into farming villages through this system. These resources are decided by the farmers themselves, reinforcing leadership, accountability, and community-onented decision-making.

Palestinian farmers work under conditions that are far from ordinary. Access to land can be restricted and political realities create constant instability. Despite these obstacles, the harvest continues. Farmers remain rooted in their groves, 2 preserving agricultural traditions and protecting a way of life that has endured for centuries.

Fair trade strengthens this resilience. It ensuros stable markets, supports cooperative structures, and provides farmers with a platform to work collectively while maintaining individual ownership of their land.

To learn more about Canaan Palestine, visit:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z83eJ8fygTo&t=1s
www.canaanpalestine.com

Celebrate Co-op & Fair Trade Month with us all throughout October!

FairTrade Producer Story

By FairTrade America
Producer’s name: Evelio Ricardo Garcia Cordoba
Location: Peru
Co-op name: Centro Café
Commodity: Coffee

“My name is Evelio Ricardo Garcia Cordoba. I am 49 years old. Since I was 10 or 12 years old, I have already started growing coffee. At that time I learned coffee production from my father. My father was a coffee farmer. We are seven brothers and sisters in the family. My siblings all studied and worked, only I stayed in agriculture. But coffee growing is going very well in everyday life, so it has done something positive for my life, in which I also raised my children. It is going well on the basis of coffee. And we belong to the cooperative Centro Café. We have been working with this cooperative since its start in 2001, and thank God it has provided us with the facilities. Many thanks also to you that we have Fairtrade.

Fairtrade has taught us what we did not know about coffee. Now we work with more technology, and the cooperative Centro Café even has engineers who are responsible for training and technical support, both for Gropal and for the Association, and they also help the partners. For example, we produce an organic fertilizer that we make ourselves. As you have seen, we have animals, from where we produce manure mixed with the pulp of the coffee, which is an everyday product of ours. We sow coffee and make our own mixtures, which are also influenced by our fertilizing. We have this situation here through tree shadows, from so many manageable shade trees, which are equilateral fruit trees, and we also have wooden trees that are useful to us. This is how we live. It is nice to protect the environment. We live a harmonious life with our family and friends who visit us.

Through Fairtrade we also benefit from lower costs. We take organic fertilizer to have a good production on our coffee plantations. And when it comes to fighting diseases, for example, there is a product that is easy to control. And because we are partners, we get it at a lower cost, for example, half the price. Even if we want to know which of our soils need fertilization, we also have a soil analysis. Such a soil analysis is worth 150. The partner sets 75 soles and 75 is paid by the cooperative, as a support of Fairtrade, and that is good for us, the farmers, to have this equipment.

In Centro Café we have a trial plot today, which is located in the Champol area, also within the Fairtrade framework. There are also some new varieties of seedlings that are newly produced and have a very good taste (good cupping coffees). So, as long as I am able, I would like to continue working as a coffee farmer and from there my children will see how it will be, but in the meantime I would like to continue growing my coffee varieties, now also with these new varieties that practically motivate us to plant.

I would like to tell them that we, as coffee farmers who have dedicated ourselves to coffee, are anxious to sell an even better one - with great care, under healthy, hygienic conditions and well-prepared coffee. Even before sowing and harvesting, we are concerned about ensuring that the beans are well shucked, fermented and dried so that they (the consumers) can enjoy our product, which we produce here.

Apart from the coffee, we also benefit from Fairtrade in the families. My wife used to work with small animals. Fairtrade helps us a lot that we have a certain economic income for the families by selling coffee, and that is good.”

Celebrate Co-op & Fair Trade Month with us all throughout October!