Fair Trade Tea

Our resource today gives a glowing picture of what Fair Trade has done for tea factories in Kenya. The article is based upon information from Julius Ethang’atha who is a small scale tea producer and who has been in the tea industry for 30 years including serving in the position of general manager of sales and marketing for the Kenya Tea Development Agency. Ethang’atha had been traveling around Scotland during the Fairtrade Fortnight and reported what he was finding to BBC Scotland.

Fair Trade was introduced to Kenya in the tea producing market five years ago. The Kenya Tea Development Agency chose what they considered the most disadvantaged tea producing factory in Ethang’atha’s area in which to establish the pilot program.

Ethang’atha reports that since that time schools have been built or improved. Water systems, roads and dispensaries has been built and many other benefits have accrued from the funds received by a “social premium” paid through Fair Trade. Now they have factories waiting to become Fair Trade.

The basic idea of Fair Trade is to provide a fair price for the goods being produced with the hope of helping those who live below poverty levels in developing nations. I believe this began back in the 1980s with arts and handicrafts from developing nations which eventually incorporated tea and coffee as the first agricultural products for purchase through Fair Trade.

For the rest of the information in the article and what he thinks of Scotland, see our resource: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7282967.stm