Agriculture over the centuries has been one of the most stable sources of income in many economies across the world. Billions of dollars are earned globally every year from the trading of agricultural products. Farmers have managed to feed the world's ever-growing populations over the years. Agriculture has managed to reduce unemployment in the world both directly and indirectly. For instance, farmers create direct employment in their farms while the intermediaries and other traders are indirectly employed through agriculture. Production firms dealing with agricultural products as raw materials create thousands of jobs every year. Agriculture also produces market for those companies which produce farm inputs like fertilizers, planting materials, farm tools, and equipment. Even though agriculture plays a very vital role in the growth of global economy, many farmers do not benefit equitably from their efforts and farm investment.
Fair Trade in agricultural products is very paramount. It is imperative for farmers to join Fair Trade movements to ensure that they reap maximum benefits from their products. Joining Fair Trade Network is very beneficial to a farmer ( De Pelsmacker & Rayp, 2005 ). Personally, I joined a coffee Fair Trade Network. The advantages are many. Coffee produced in Fair Trade Organizations is of high quality. The production is done using environmentally friendly methods where much of the coffee is organic and shade grown. The Fair Trade organization takes into consideration the plight of the farmers and ensures that farmers get fair returns for their coffee. Initially, coffee returns were meager compared to the cost of production, but after joining the Fair Trade organization, the gains have drastically improved. Intermediaries in agricultural supply chains exploit farmers by offering low prices and poor relationships with producers. Many farmers suffer in the hands of unscrupulous middlemen when selling agricultural produce. Farmers who join Fair Trade Movements do not interact with intermediaries because the organization works directly with the farmers or producers.
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Financial support in developing nations is not readily accessible to many small-scale farmers. Lack of enough funds makes many farmers reap small profits from their farms. The benefits of joining Fair Trade Movements cannot be undermined because they offer financial support to members. The financial aid comes in different forms. For example, direct loans, connecting farmers with financial institutions and pre-payments. Financial support enables farmers to expand their operations and increase the profit margin. The pre-payments offered by Fair Trade Movements ensures that farmers have enough funds to cater for production costs and meet basic family needs within the production period ( Smith & Barrientos, 2005 ). Commercial importers make delayed payments to farmers who may take sixty to ninety days exposing the farmers to the financial crisis and possible collapsing of production due to lack of funds.
Commercial importers do not care about the welfare of the farmers. Fair Trade Organizations offer crucial technical support and guidance to their producers. The organizations provide advisory services to farmers about the ever-changing market dynamics, financial management and changing product trends. The long-term relationships made between producers and the Fair Trade Organizations is paramount in assisting the farmers to adapt to the changes in both local and international markets (Raynolds, 2002). Coffee growing farmers suffer in this region because of lack of a Fair Trade movement to solve their problems. The problems experienced as a coffee farmer got resolved after I joined the Fair Trade Movement. Profit has increased tremendously, and the quality of my coffee has improved. The Free Trade Movements is my umbrella as a coffee farmer shielding me from the many difficulties I faced when I used to deal with commercial importers. I encourage all coffee farmers to join the Fair Trade Movements to reap fair returns from their coffee production.
References
De Pelsmacker, P., Driesen, L., & Rayp, G. (2005). Do consumers care about ethics? Willingness to pay for fair ‐ trade coffee. Journal of Consumer Affairs , 39 (2), 363-385.
Smith, S., & Barrientos, S. (2005). Fair trade and ethical trade: are there moves towards convergence?. Sustainable Development , 13 (3), 190-198.
Raynolds, L. T. (2002). Consumer/producer links in fair trade coffee networks. Sociologia ruralis , 42 (4), 404-424.
