Riordan is a third-year international development studies and
Spanish student, and member of the Environmental Coalition.
By Christine Riordan
In today’s society, we have the power as consumers to make
decisions about what we buy. Although many times we do not realize
the direct impact of our consumer decisions, the effects of our
choices are profound. We have a responsibility to those who produce
the things that we buy ““ whether it’s clothes from
sweatshops abroad or in the United States, the use of services
which employ prison labor, or coffee from farmers who are
continuously exploited. There are people behind production and
human lives which depend on our decisions.
On Friday, Jan. 26, after numerous meetings with the
Environmental Coalition, the Associated Students of UCLA Board of
Directors voted 9-0-1 in favor of introducing fair trade coffee to
the ASUCLA coffee houses on our campus. This was a significant step
forward in promoting living rights for farmers and their families
in developing nations, and UCLA is moving to the forefront of a
growing, nation-wide movement for justice.
The implementation of fair trade coffee on our campus means that
UCLA students now have a direct, effective role in determining the
strength of the movement.
Fair trade coffee helps maintain a sustainable quality of life
for coffee farmers and their families in developing nations through
environmental, social and economic means. There are over 20 million
of such farming families in 49 countries throughout Africa, Asia
and Latin America. The United States consumes one fifth of the
global harvest, resulting in a $5 billion industry.
Under the current market system of free trade production,
farmers are victims of exploitative middlemen and unforgiving
credit cycles. They often are forced to use agricultural techniques
which deplete the environment of essential, sustainable growing
conditions that often are harmful to the workers themselves.
Numerous problems stem from these conditions, such as the use of
child labor to meet quotas, lack of education among coffee farming
children and lack of health care. Entire communities which are
dependent on coffee production are not able to create necessary
infrastructure, such as clinics, schools and roads, that is vital
to their quality of life.
These characteristics of the free trade system are rooted in the
returns that the farmer receives upon selling his/her coffee; a
farmer typically receives 15 cents to 30 cents per pound of coffee,
while the cost of production is approximately 75 cents. Thus, the
costs of production are not covered in these returns, forcing
farmers into a cycle of poverty from which they cannot escape.
In addition, clear cutting of the rainforests, the resulting
loss of wildlife and habitat, and pesticide use are common.
The fair trade system creates conditions that allow farming
families to meet their costs of production and invest in
developments for their community. In order to be fair trade
certified, farmers must be part of cooperatives. This allows them
to use a collective voice to control their marketing and thus gives
them essential roles in the selling of their coffee.
A minimum floor price of $1.26 per pound is guaranteed to
farmers despite volatile fluctuations in the market price, and
credit is established at low rates. One dollar of this return goes
directly to the farmer; the remaining 26 cents goes to the
cooperative, which then uses the funds for community development.
The living wage supplied to farmers means that their quality of
life will increase and help bring an end to child labor, lack of
education, non-existent health care and the desperate need for
infrastructure.
The fair trade system also creates a more sustainable growing
environment through alternative agricultural techniques, such as
organic and shade-grown (a method in which the rainforest is left
uncut while coffee is grown as an understory crop) farming. Not
only is this beneficial to present farmers, but it also creates a
positive, productive system of farming that future generations of
coffee farmers will be able to rely on.
The presence of fair trade coffee in the ASUCLA coffee houses
means that we will have the option to oppose the exploitation of
farming families throughout the developing world and make active
decisions to support them.
We have the power to decide that we want to help end child
labor, empower children with education, supply means for health
care, raise the standard of living in communities, and end
industrial environmental degradation. This power gives us, as
students, an active and meaningful role in a movement that gives
these farmers rights that they are entitled to and that they have
been denied for far too long.
By choosing to buy fair trade coffee, we can make a significant
difference in the lives of many. An extra nickel or dime for a cup
of coffee is worth it and makes all the difference to the people
behind the production.
To get involved in the Fair Trade Coffee Campaign, e-mail the
Environmental Coalition at [email protected], or come by the office
at 320 Kerckhoff Hall.