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Fair trade, forests and food security: a win–win situation?

Fair trade, forests and food security: a win–win situation?. What can fair trade offer organized small farmers for improving food security? Experiences from the field: Tree Aid, Ragussi and ECOCERT, Burkina Faso Ludovic Conditamde , Tree Aid, Burkina Faso www.treeaid.org.uk.

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Fair trade, forests and food security: a win–win situation?

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  1. Fair trade, forests and food security:a win–win situation? What can fair trade offer organized small farmers for improving food security? Experiences from the field: Tree Aid, Ragussi and ECOCERT, Burkina Faso LudovicConditamde, Tree Aid, Burkina Faso www.treeaid.org.uk

  2. TREE AID PERSPECTIVE • TREE AID is not yet working in fair trade, but some moves in that direction include: • Support to 428 non-timber forest products (NTFPs) entrepreneur groups in Burkina & Mali • Assisting 5 631villagers (79% women) in marketing 27 NTFPs from 9 species & various nectar plants in Burkina • Main weakness: • lack of professional • skillsamongproducers, discouraging entrepreneurs • frombuyingfromvillagers

  3. TREE AID PERSPECTIVE • Average annual income/capita (Burkina) = $430 • Average annual income/rural women (Burkina)=$60 • Surplus income generatedby VTE project per entrepreneur = $12 to $550 • NTFPs contribution to household income = 3.94% for rich, but 90% for poor • 4 types of possible groupings in Burkina & Mali • for fair trade process: • Grouping by product • The geographical grouping • Structuring per value chain • Adherence to existing • organizations

  4. RAGUSSI ASSOCIATION A women’s organization producing sheabutter and by-products, created in Burkina Faso in 1994 for women’s empowerment Historical challenges: 1997-98 experience • Lack of customers • 17 tonnes of sheabutter • lost (Europe + credit) • Ragussi Association • closed between 1998 & • 2003 because it was unable to repay loans

  5. Experience of Ragussi in Fair Trade • Benefits • Organic & fair trade labelling • Conventional & organic sheabutter (biokarité) certified by ECOCERT • Main market: Occitane, France • Occitanepays Ragussi 80% in advance • Organic/fair trade sheabutter: producers received double price of conventionally-marketed products • Social premium = 10% of sales • Costof certification: Occitaneprovides a 3-year grant • Support from local partners & project in Burkina as well as from international partners

  6. Experience of Ragussi in fair trade • Benefits • Better redistribution of revenues to 1660 members • Training in natural regeneration of trees • Shea butter waste used as combustible energy • 20 compost pits developed • Awareness-raising in AIDS & HIV testing for 200 women • Social projects developed using the social premium: • A literacy teaching centre for women • Daily lunch at women’s training courses • Sponsored events

  7. Experience of Ragussi in fair trade • Lessons learnt • Basic market research needed before adopting organic/fair trade models • Organic labelling should come first, followed by fair trade labelling • Key constraints and challenges • Resource not widely available • Shortage of financial resources to buy appropriate land, including sheatrees • Disappointment atproduction capacity of sheatree: 5 kg required for 20 kg of raw produce

  8. Experience of Ragussi in fair trade • Prospects /future plans • Extension of organic-certified zones • Finding new outlets • Developing new products • Decentralizing the production centre and building 3 others

  9. ECOCERT • ECOCERT is an independentcompany and an inspection and certification body of organic products founded in France in 1991 • Views of ECOCERT on key challenges in Burkina • Many organizations involved in fair trade • Poor visibility and lack of the necessary resources to advertise products

  10. ECOCERT fair trade in Burkina Faso • A national platform to give visibility to fair trade for small organizations was created in 2010 • The EFT standard (ECOCERT Fair Trade) applies to food, cosmetics and textiles meeting both organic farming and fair trade criteria • Social, economic and environmental criteria are checked all along the value chain • Potential forest products to be traded under fair trade: sheabutter, oil and pulp of the baobab tree (Adansoniadigitata), oil of Balanitesaegyptiaca • Potential zones for fair trade and buffer zones of protected forests

  11. Questions for discussion What are the preconditions for adding value through fair trade by small and medium-sized forest enterprises, thus helping improve food security for local people? What new forest products could fair tradepromote? What are the critical factors for private-sector and institutional support for fair trade in forest products by local small and medium-sized forest enterprises?

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