Today's Guardian has a story about a report on the Fairtrade Foundation which compares its effectiveness unfavourably with multinationals (Nestlé, etc) when it comes to helping developing world coffee farmers. This is an IEA report which seems to say, amongst other things, "Fairtrade requirements [on farmers] may well reflect the subjective views of western consumers and not the real needs of poor producers." I say "seems" because, curiously, the Guardian doesn't cite the report, or give its title, and, even more curiously, there isn't a mention of, or link to it, on the IEA website.
Thanks to DEA, who did find it here . They also give a link to the Fairtrade Foundation's response.
Of course, the IEA was hardly likely to support special interest groups, and many will be tempted to dismiss the report unread because it's from the IEA. A pity.
All this prompts the question: who really benefits from fairtrade? It seems to me that, while UK shops and importers obviously gain through this dedicated and valued (in both senses) trade, consumers do too: from the conviction that they're doing some good in far away places.
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