Saturday is World Fair Trade Day 2009, and to celebrate we have some facts about the history of Fair Trade:
- Fair Trade certification first began in 1988.
- It was first called Max Havelaar, after a character in a nineteenth-century Dutch novel
- The first fair trade product was Mexican coffee that was sold in Denmark.
- There are currently 1.5 million Fairtrade producers and workers in 58 countries.
- One-quarter of the bananas now sold in the UK are Fairtrade certified.
- The growth of Fair Trade doesn’t seem to have been hindered by the Global Financial Crisis.
- Cadbury will be investing £45M into assisting cocoa farming in Ghana, India, Indonesia and The Caribbean over the next 10 years.
- In 2008 (compared to 2007), Fair Trade sales rose by 24% in Austria, 40% in Denmark, 57% in Finland, 22% in France, 75% in Sweden, 43% in the UK, and by 10% in the US.
(Source: the above was adapted from an article by Matt Strand at Sustainable Life Media. Photo: Jake Liefer)
