Fairtrade, the most trusted sustainability label in the world, works to ensure that equality reaches all of our production systems and that farming remains sustainable for everyone involved.
It has just kicked off its #BeFairRightNow campaign, which runs until the 6th of January 2023 and introduces consumers to the workers and farmers behind its products.
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Who is Fairtrade?
Millions of people who grow our food often don’t earn enough or are not placed in a position to improve their lives and their communities. Fairtrade is an organisation that works to combat issues like this by ensuring better prices, decent working conditions and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers.
There are a large number of Fairtrade-certified businesses across the world, especially in the farming industry, meaning that many of our food suppliers are ensuring that ethical and sustainable practices are followed.
In a study done by Mastercard in 2021, it was found that 98% of South African adults feel strongly enough about sustainability issues to take personal action.
These issues include fair income for workers, human rights and ethical environmental practices. Fairtrade works to bridge the gap between consumer, farmer, and worker and helps us make more intentional purchases.
#BeFairRightNow
Fairtrade is campaigning to make people more aware of the importance of buying products that speak to this mission, and to do it right now, not now-now.
A product that has the Fairtrade Mark ensures consumers that the people behind the product are treated fairly and use sustainable farming practices. Seeing the Fairtrade Mark on a product shows consumers that the product’s producers have met rigorous social, economic and environmental standards.
For every purchase of a product with a Fairtrade Mark, you are also guaranteed that an additional sum of money was paid to the producer called the Fairtrade Premium, which forms a fund that is run by workers or farmer cooperatives, who then decide what to do with the money in a way that will be most beneficial for their communities.
The quiz
A quiz was chosen as a fun and interactive way of encouraging consumers to think about where and who their products come from.
Through the medium of a quiz, we as consumers are given a chance to learn about the very real impacts behind our actions. The information given sheds light on what happens behind the scenes before we can have our tea, coffee or wine.
Take the quiz here.
You can win prizes!
Finishing the quiz and signing up to the Fairtrade Africa mailing list will enter you into a draw where you stand to win amazing prizes, including a fabulous trip to the Winelands for two.
Sharing the quiz not only helps Fairtrade spread its message of equality but also increases your chance of winning.
Prize winners will get a tour of the renowned Vergelegen’s sustainability projects as well as a picnic in the wine farm’s picturesque forest. Vergelegen is one of the wine farms that implement Fairtrade’s ethos.
Where can you buy products marked by Fairtrade?
Products with the Fairtrade Mark can easily be found online, such as on CyberCellar, which has a Fairtrade section of wines on its site.
Other places you can purchase from are Faithful to Nature, Woolworths, Bean There Coffee, the Motherland Coffee Company and Fairtrade-certified wine farms.
Take the quiz!
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Picture: Supplied
