Fair Trade program helps small farmers benefit from global markets.
Monday, January 9, 2006
Thousands of Africans can escape poverty without a penny being given to charity, industry experts were told yesterday.
Surging demand for organic cotton is giving farmers in the developing world the chance to enter into fair trade arrangements with western companies.
Farmers in Tanzania are supplying cotton for Abaca, an organic mattress and bed specialist based in T Croes, near Ammanford.
The relationship will allow farmers who have previously battled poverty and deprivation to have a secure and transparent source of income.
It will also mean that they no longer have to use pesticides which are estimated to be responsible for the deaths of 20,000 farmers and family members a year.
