Visit: Cafédirect

Fairtrade and promoting Fairtrade products

1. Why are you visiting at the moment?
2. Why is Fairtrade important?
3. How have the Fairtrade premiums helped you and your community? What have you used the additional income for?
4. What ways do you think Fairtrade will help in the future? What are your hopes for you and your fellow tea farmers?
5. Is there any way I can promote Fairtrade to my friends and family?
6. Are there any resources available to help promote Fairtrade?
7. How can I tell if something is Fairtrade or not?
8. I wondered if the world price had an effect on the price you eventually receive even though a Fairtrade organisation is involved?
9. What is the minimum price?
10. Fairtrade costs more than non-Fairtrade tea. Is it really worth the extra money?
11. Yes, but does Fairtrade have to be more expensive - it's fair to the producers but is it fair to consumers too?
12. How long are you in the UK for Cecilia?
13. What else will you be doing while you are here?

Fairtrade and promoting Fairtrade products

Question: Why are you visiting at the moment?
Cecilia: I've come to promote my tea and Teadirect and to help promote Fairtrade in the UK.
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Question: Why is Fairtrade important?
Cecilia: Fairtrade is important because I get a good price for my tea. The additional money has meant we have clean water, schools and dispensaries for medical care. Since Teadirect, I now have clean water to use, before I had to walk 2 hours a day to collect water. I carried 20 litres on my head. Now with Teadirect my people have been able to build a water project. We have clean water in our villages and in our homes. This means that we don't have to spend time collecting water, we have time to work on our farms and look after our families. Also the clean water means we don't get sick anymore. We also have dispensaries (health care). Before we had to walk up to 2 hours to get medical help. Now we have a medical centre half an hour away. This is very good for us. Before people were not able to get to the help, pregnant women had to walk, and some gave birth on the way. Some people would die on the way to hospital.
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Question: How have the Fairtrade premiums helped you and your community? What have you used the additional income for?
Cecilia: I am very happy. Under the various projects we have been able to do many things. We have primary schools, secondary schools, water projects, a credit and saving bank and 2 dispensaries for medicines. Our schools are very important. They are not like the schools you are sitting in. They are a basic room with a steel roof. Now we have tables and chairs, and real floors and windows to keep the wind and dust out. We don't have computers in our schools. The nearest computer to where I live is 4 hours walk away. I'm not sure whether this computer has email communication. My daughter is attending the college Tengeru Arushni, she is studying community development. She is able to go to school because I get paid a Fairtrade price for my tea. Fairtrade has boosted our income. Our family life is better now.
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Question: What ways do you think Fairtrade will help in the future? What are your hopes for you and your fellow tea farmers?
Cecilia: I hope for a better life for me, my daughters and the other tea farmers. Fairtrade is helping us improve our lives. We are able to build businesses now that will support us and help us in the future. Our children will be able to go to school which means they will get good jobs, their lives will be better. Tea is very important for us, at this time it is the only way we can make a good living. Teadirect is helping us, without Teadirect our lives would not be the same. I thank all those who drink my tea and hope they know the good things it does for me and the others in my place. Teadirect offers us a good price. They pay no less than a minimum of $1.95 per kg for our tea. This is very important as the price for tea is not good. I am very happy to be here in the UK and to help Teadirect be promoted. I want more people to take my tea as this will help my people. In Tanzania we say 'every time is time for tea'!
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Question: Is there any way I can promote Fairtrade to my friends and family?
Cecilia: Yes you can promote my tea, it will help a lot. You should tell them about Fairtrade and my story or how it has helped my people and many others in the world. Get them to taste my tea - I think they will like it, I grow it very well.
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Question: Are there any resources available to help promote Fairtrade?
Cecilia: Yes you can go to the Friends of Cafe Direct part of the Web site to order a Stir It Up pack; this has everything you need to help promote Fairtrade.
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Question: How can I tell if something is Fairtrade or not?
Cecilia: You can tell it's Fairtrade as it has the Fairtrade mark on it, so always look for this mark, it's important.
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Question: I wondered if the world price had an effect on the price you eventually receive even though a Fairtrade organisation is involved?
Cecilia: Teadirect always pays a minimum price and never any less. I have been told that the world market price is getting lower, this will affect tea farmers who are not lucky enough to sell to Teadirect.
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Question: What is the minimum price?
Cecilia: The minimum price is what Teadirect pays us for our tea. It is $1.95, this means we will never be paid less than this, it's very important as we know we can plan as we know the money we have coming to us.
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Question: Fairtrade costs more than non-Fairtrade tea. Is it really worth the extra money?
Cecilia: It does cost a little more, but not much. It's a very good quality tea and you pay for that. Also it makes the lives of the tea growers better.
Biz/ed: If tea (and coffee prices) had risen in line with inflation in the last 20 years we, in the UK, would be paying far more for our tea and coffee. Part of the explanation for the suppression of price has been efficiency and productivity savings in processing. But the remainder has come, so some argue, from exploiting people like Cecilia who have little market power. They are often faced with a monopsony situation (a single buyer) and so have no choice but to sell to the big Western manufacturers. The value is added in the processing and traditionally, the large companies have dominated this process.
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Question: Yes, but does Fairtrade have to be more expensive - it's fair to the producers but is it fair to consumers too?
Cecilia: It's fair as you get the best tea from my farm so you get the best drink and I get a good price, we both do well. I would like more people to buy tea from Teadirect so my people's lives can continue to improve. Teadirect is very, very important to me, it has boosted the income of my family and the wellbeing of my family.
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Question: How long are you in the UK for Cecilia?
Cecilia: I came to the UK on Monday and leave on the 5th, a week Friday. I am enjoying my time in London.
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Question: What else will you be doing while you are here?
Cecilia: Tomorrow I will be doing some speaking on the radio, I will speak to the press also. I went to Bristol yesterday and next week I'm going to Leeds to visit Asda the supermarket where they sell my tea.
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