DfID conceals Fairtrade evaluations FOI

1. The British Government aid department, DfID have stated that the unit responsible for Fairtrade, Fair Trade and ethical trading does not have a single evaluation in their records or on their computers, neither one done by themselves or one done by anyone else.

Nor do they hold “Any reviews, assessments, appraisals, monitoring, evaluation, economic analysis, financial analysis etc of of Fairtrade, Fair Trade, the Fairtrade Foundation, The Fairtrade Labelling Organization, or any organization engaged in Fairtrade” including work done by DfID and other organizations.

This was stated in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act, which obliges them to release any information they have.

What are they hiding? Does anyone know what they do have (or have destroyed)? Does anyone have copies of the reports?

Cooperative speaks against Fairtrade

Guardian letters 13 Oct: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/13/fair-trade-starbucks-coffee-cadburys

Letters
Still a way to go on fair trade

The Guardian, Tuesday 13 October 2009
Article history
After reading your article/advertisement "Fair from every point of view" (10 October), I must conclude the opposite. What gives you (or Starbucks or the Fairtrade Foundation) the right to speak on behalf of producers in the developing world? I am employed by coffee farmers and I can assure you that this system is not considered "fair" from every point of view. The fundamental flaw with Fairtrade is that producers are merely beneficiaries, not participants. Until Starbucks, Green & Blacks, the Co-op etc actually partner with producers, providing them a stake in ownership and a vote, then there is nothing "fair" about it – just great marketing.
To illustrate my point, more than 85% of the revenue generated by Fairtrade coffee remains in the global north. The economics just don't add up.
Thaleon Tremain
General manager, Pachamama Coffee Co-operative

Does the Fairtrade Premium reach farmers?

Martin Hill - Director of Commercial Relations, Fairtrade Foundation spoke at the European Coffee Symposium in Vienna on 9th October. He said, repeatedly, angrily and forcefully, that all the Fairtrade Premium was passed on to farmers at farm gate - not just to the cooperative exporter. This in spite of all the evidence that the cooperatives have high compliance costs, including paying inspection fees to Fairtrade, and that they may not recover any of this money. Certainly they cannot recover all of it.

He also said that Fairtrade helped farmers increase their yields and improve quality. How much would it cost to run a meaningful agricultural advisory service covering a million farmers scattered over 30 countries? Far more than the tiny amount Fairtrade claims to get to the Third World. And how would they pay for it if all the money goes, untouched, through to farm gate?