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Eating chocolate need no longer be a guilty habit. Nathalie Towner explains how Fairtrade products are becoming best sellers - and a lifetime committment
Paying a fair price
When Irene Docherty lectures on chocolate, it's not in an effort to discourage
people from eating too much, but to make sure they're buying the right
sort.
Whatever time is left over after providing IT training at North Wiltshire
district council and working as branch education officer for UNISON, Docherty
devotes to promoting the different produce sold under the Fairtrade label.
When this blue and green label appears on goods, it guarantees producers
from the developing world have received a better deal. It works by providing
them with a minimum price that covers the cost of production and an extra
premium that is invested in the local community.
And more and more people are buying-in to the fair trade concept. Over
the past three years, consumption of fair-trade foods in the UK has more
than doubled. The British public now drinks 1.7 million cups of fair-trade
tea, coffee and cocoa each day and eats 1.5 million fair-trade bananas
a week.
It has now become mainstream, with more than 250 products available from
retail outlets and 45 from catering suppliers in the UK.
"It's a life commitment," explains Docherty when asked about
her fair-trade activity. "When my husband and I heard about it we
thought it would be a good idea to get involved.
"It's about providing third-world producers with a fair price, but
it's about more than this – it's about helping communities by providing
sustainability, money for education and building an infrastructure."
Docherty is often asked to speak on the principles of fair trade and regularly
uses the cocoa trade as a way of explaining the differences between companies
that operate under fair trade and those that don't. She knows her approach
is helping to make a difference.
"It's a grass roots approach. It's about what you believe in –
Nescafe will always be cheaper as it has far greater marketing potential,
but it's up to you how you decide to spend the extra 20 or 30 pence."
Docherty, her husband Gordon and fellow UNISON member Mark Rippon are
largely responsible for their employer, the North Wiltshire district council,
winning the local authority category of the recent Fairtrade Awards, run
by the Fairtrade Foundation.
The three of them are the main people involved in promoting fair trade
in the south west region. They receive financial backing from their local
UNISON branch for most activities and from the council's sports and social
club, but they were surprised to receive the award as none of them work
full-time on promoting fair trade.
However, the Fairtrade Foundation singled them out because it liked their
imaginative approach to promoting the label. They were commended for the
way they targeted different age groups and for making sure the events
always had an interactive element.
They chose to launch the new Fairtrade directory by holding a full-day
event at North Wiltshire district council, which meant providing a large
range of products for staff, visitors and councillors.
"We also had information boards, leaflets, quizzes and videos as
well as a raffle. Throughout the day, more that 125 people visited us,"
says Docherty.
"As a follow-up to this event, we have purchased and placed fair-trade
coffees, decaffeinated coffee and tea bags in each floor's kitchen facilities
in this council building and our other buildings, along with posters explaining
fair trade and Fairtrade directories."
However, Docherty is mindful that she doesn't want to "shove it down
people's throats", believing the information she provides should
simply help them make up their own minds. She is happy if she succeeds
in converting someone to buying one fair-trade product such as coffee
on a regular basis.
Her promotional activities also include speaking to educational establishments.
Not long ago, she was invited to the local agricultural college to speak
to students studying environmental sustainability.
"We knew we had to pitch it differently and think of the interests
of the audience," she explains. "Our aim was not only to 'spread
the word' to the students, but also to challenge them and to obtain their
commitment to promote fair trade themselves.
"The lesson was enjoyable and engaged the students so much that they
voluntarily gave up their lunch hour to continue the discussion."
The hard work and determination of Docherty and her fellow activists are
helping to put the Fairtrade label into the mainstream retail market.
It is now recognised by two in five of the British adult population as
representing a better deal for third-world producers and, according to
a MORI poll, some 63% of people who recognise the mark say they have subsequently
bought Fairtrade products.
Clearly more and more people realise that eating chocolate, so long as
it's the right sort, need no longer be a guilty habit.
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