Producer story: More than skin deep

There’s now another way to bring Fairtrade into your everyday life – Fairtrade beauty products. The FAIRTRADE Mark now appears on a growing range of soaps, balms, body lotions and shower gels, so that those in the developing world who grow some of their ingredients can get a better deal for their work.

One of the groups set to benefit from this is CONACADO, or the National Confederation of Dominican Cocoa Producers. They are a major player in the Dominican Republic cocoa market, selling up to 13,300 tonnes of cocoa each year. The democratically run co-operative has a membership of 10,000 farmers and has been selling their cocoa as Fairtrade certified since 1995.

One CONACADO farmer hoping to sell more cocoa beans is 64-year-old Mariano Manzuela. Mariano has tended the cocoa trees on his half-hectare farm for over 30 years. Since 1995 CONACADO’s Fairtrade premiums have benefited Mariano and his family in various ways, including a loan to renovate and extend the family home, which will greatly improve the whole family’s quality of life. Four of Mariano’s children are still in school and were granted scholarships to help cover school and exam expenses and his youngest son’s primary school are using the premiums to build a new classroom.

As well as scholarships allowing those from low income families to get an education, the members of CONACADO have also benefited from improvements in healthcare, credit schemes, and road maintenance.

It’s not just social benefits the Fairtrade premiums have been delivering; the farming, processing and exporting of the cocoa itself have also been greatly improved, as Isidoro de la Rosa, the Executive Director of CONACADO, states. ‘With Fairtrade income we were able to implement a fermentation programme to improve the quality of our cocoa and to convert our production to certified organic. This improved our position in the export market.’

Cocoa butter is not the only Fairtrade product used in cosmetics. Sugar from Malawi is used in body scrubs; shea butter produced by women in Burkina Faso is a popular ingredient in moisturisers; and brazil nut oil from several South American countries, including Peru, is also a treat for skin due to its essential fatty acids.

To make sure the benefits back to the producers are as great as possible, the companies launching the products this summer have committed to fostering long term relationships with the producer groups, investing time and money in the communities.

So, to make your life, and that of farmers in developing countries more beautiful – treat yourself with Fairtrade beauty products.