Campaigns: Fair Trade

Fairtrade Fortnight 2010

Fairtrade Fortnight runs from the 22nd of February to the 8th of March 2010. this year we’re all about Fairtrade tea!

What is Fair Trade?

Fair Trade is about paying poor producers a fair price, and helping them to gain the necessary skills and knowledge to develop their businesses and work their way out of poverty.

Oxfam Ireland Fair Trade Oxfam was one of the pioneers of Fair Trade more than forty years ago. Since then, we have been involved in every aspect of Fair Trade and have contributed to its success in Ireland.

BellX1 in Kinsale Oxfam Ireland supports Fair Trade in a number of ways. Firstly, we sell FAIRTRADE-marked food and drink in some of our shops, as well as a range of fairly-traded gifts. Our shop teams organise events and tastings to promote Fair Trade, especially during the annual Fairtrade Fortnight.

In 1991, Oxfam helped found a Fair Trade coffee company called Cafédirect that is now the UK's sixth-largest coffee brand. Cafédirect products are widely available throughout Ireland. A year later, we helped to set up the Fairtrade Foundation, which controls use of the FAIRTRADE mark in the UK. We also sit on the board of Fairtrade Mark Ireland.

The FAIRTRADE mark is the one independent consumer guarantee that goods on sale in mainstream shops have been fairly traded.

Oxfam Ireland Fair Trade Online Shop For many years, we have worked directly with producers to help them develop products to sell in our shops. We also buy from suppliers; the knowledge Oxfam gained is now used in our market access work to help producers improve their products and access new markets. Visit our new Fair Trade Online Shop at www.oxfamirelandshop.org.

Finally, Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign aims to change the unfair rules of world trade, because we recognise that Fair Trade alone cannot address the crisis faced by the millions of small-scale farmers and producers whose livelihoods are threatened by low commodity prices and unfair competition from rich countries.