Sustainable Development Goals 2020 Update

Eliminating poverty is at the heart of Fairtrade’s mission. Around 80% of the people living in extreme poverty are in rural areas. Through our unique pricing model, we protect farmers from pricing fluctuations, but we know this isn’t enough. That is why we are actively working towards living incomes.

From 2015-2018, farmers and workers have received €680 million in Fairtrade Premium.

Zero hunger starts with paying farmers a fair price. Small-scale farmers provide 70% of the world’s population with food and have a big role to play in ending world hunger – but only when they can get fair prices for their crops and the right support for their farms. Producers need financial stability to invest in their businesses, to ensure long-term food security for their families and communities and to pay their farm laborers a decent wage.

There are over  5.6 million acres being used to grow Fairtrade crops.

The UN estimates that closing the gender gap in agriculture could cut the number of hungry people by up to 150 million.

Fairtrade supports women to participate equally in their organization’s decisionmaking, earn better wages and diversify their income, and tackles stereotypes of ‘women’s work’. Our standards prohibit gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and gender-based violence, set rules for parental leave, and rights for pregnant and breastfeeding women. We run gender leadership schools and facilitate seed funding for women’s initiatives.

Millions of farmers and workers don’t earn enough to pay for their basic household needs, let alone save for retirement or a failed harvest. Human rights violations in supply chains are rampant including child and forced labor, sexual harassment and abuse, trafficking and discrimincation.

Our standards prohibit child and forced labor, proactively promote better working conditions and better terms of employment.

We are part of a network spanning over 100 countries, connecting 1.7 million farmes and workers, 4,000+ businesses and countless shoppers. We are more than a label, we are a movement committed to making consumption and production better for people and the planet.

Fairtrade is the only ethical label with a Trader Standard promoting fairer behavior by traders and buyers. This includes transparent contracts, fair prices, openness about sourcing and market prospects, prefinancing for producers and compliance with labor and environmental law.

Climate change is not a distant future for farmers, it is a current reality.

Fairtrade enables farmers to better withstand these climate shocks and stresses through our environmental and climate standards, premiums, carbon credits and climate academies. We are working directly with farmers to both protect the environment and prepare for future impacts of the climate crisis.

Fairtrade builds democracy from the ground up. We are the only global ethical label 50 percent owned and run by farmers and workers themselves.

Per the Fairtrade Standards, certified must be democratic, transparent and inclusive. They decide for themselves how to spend the Fairtrade Premium, whether improving productivity or addressing their community’s sustainable development priorities.

Global supply chains favor big business over small-scale farmers. For trade justice to take root, we collaborate with people along the supply chain, trade unions, consumers, campaigners, governments and NGOs to affect change.

For example, the Fairtrade Access Fund, a partnership between Fairtrade, Incofin Fund Management and Grameen Foundation, has disbursed more than $128 million to date to smallholder cooperatives.