With the first ever football World Cup to be held on African soil now underway, South Africa is on everyone’s minds. A new research study, commissioned by the Fairtrade Foundation and supported by the Southern African Fairtrade Network, aims to assess the impact Fairtrade is having on farmers and workers there. We take a brief look at the early findings.

The five Fairtrade producer groups chosen to take part in the study all sell their produce in the UK and cover citrus, wine and table grapes, apples, pears and raisins. While a study of five producer groups doesn’t give a complete picture, it provides an indication of the impact of Fairtrade.

As well as the benefits from the Fairtrade premium, which has been invested in projects including child care and education, improved worker housing and canteen facilities, sports facilities, bicycles and vegetable gardens, Fairtrade has supported the process of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment, a government initiative intended to redress the economic disparities of the apartheid era. The study has found that Fairtrade has supported workers to be able to negotiate for better terms and conditions and wages, for example through greater union participation, as well as to get relevant training and networking opportunities. At Vuki Farming, where they grow apples and pears, it has improved the position of women through encouraging their greater representation at senior management level and through establishing craft groups for women to bring in extra income, for example.

At Stellar Organics, an organic wine and grape producer in the Western Cape, Fairtrade has also encouraged the progression of the junior employees to management positions, giving them a greater say in how the farms are managed. For the smallholder raisin farmers of Eksteennskuil Agricultural Cooperative in the Northern Cape, Fairtrade has provided secure access to international markets and training in skills and business, along with a stronger belief in their ability to improve productivity and product quality, which through the continued support of Fairtrade can enable them to compete more fairly in global markets and provide a sustainable income for their families.

The study has also highlighted areas where Fairtrade needs to strengthen or adapt its existing approach in South Africa in order to deliver more to farmers and workers, given the unique sociopolitical environment in which Fairtrade is operating there. It could do this by re-examining how Fairtrade works alongside the government’s Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment legislation and considering other ways the Fairtrade system could be improved.
 
We need to look at how to make sure it’s not just the producer organisations and their workers who benefit from Fairtrade, but that the whole surrounding community can also share more of the benefits. It’s clear that more training in Fairtrade and how it can support permanent, seasonal and temporary workers to improve their situation is needed on some farms. Making sure that workers have a say in decision making in business development is another area Fairtrade needs to address.

The more Fairtrade goods that we buy from South Africa, the more these producers are able to sell under Fairtrade terms and the greater the social and economic benefits to their farmers and workers. We can help by moving beyond coffee and bananas and looking for the FAIRTRADE Mark on South African fruit, wine, rooibos tea and raisins every time we shop.