Society & Economy

Fair Planet : Coffee

Fair trade is in fashion. While the worldwide wealth gap between the North and South has never been so marked, a new momentum of solidarity is overtaking Western countries. But what is fair trade? Is it a means of fair distribution of wealth or a new ´marketing´ rip-off? What are the alternatives when faced with no-holds-barred productivity to avoid producer countries getting poorer and a deterioration in the environment? Through three practical case studies, we shall see how some producers can still make the most of what they have.

More than 20 million people in Latin America, Africa and Asia earn their living from the production and processing of coffee. However, price fluctuations and the eating-away of profit margins has a dramatic effect on small-scale producers. In Cauca, one of the poorest regions in Colombia, 70% of small-scale farmers live below the poverty line. Michel Besson, a young Frenchman, created Andines, a fair-trade company. We go back up the coffee supply-chain with him so as to try and understand what is at stake in his struggle.