executive summary - The Fairtrade Foundation

going furtHer:
Questions for business
Based on these insights, this report discusses
ways in which businesses can go further
to make international supply chains work
for smallholder farmers and what support
they need from government, civil society
organisations and the Fairtrade system to
do this. In looking at how some progressive
businesses are overcoming the barriers to
closer engagement with smallholder farmers,
the following questions have come to the
fore. They are discussed at greater length
in the body of the report and six case studies
are presented as illustrative examples. The
many different contexts in which smallholders
operate, the different products they grow,
and varying modes in which they are traded
make it impossible to present one single best
practice model that can be applied universally.
Rather these insights are presented to inform
and inspire the debate that is needed on
this subject and offer potential directions
for businesses wishing to take their
commitments deeper.
1. How can the business case
for investing in smallholder
farmer organisations as
social actors be better
recognised and supported?
The role that democratic organisations play
in helping smallholder farmers take more
control over their future, and invest in building
sustainable local farming communities for the
future, has long been recognised by the fair
trade movement and in Fairtrade standards.
The examples discussed in the main report,
such as Tate & Lyle Sugars’ experience in
Belize show how some mainstream companies
are also embracing this approach while
others are attracted by the faster results of
establishing their own groups to implement
improvement programmes despite the risks
of creating dependencies.
2. How can the different
operating contexts of
smallholder farmer
organisations and large
brands and retailers
be better understood
and aligned?
The challenges of aligning the different
timescales to which smallholder farmers
and retailers operate were cited by many
companies who have to bridge this gap in
supply chains. Retailers are typically making
decisions about individual products and
ranges on the basis of a few weeks’ figures;
indeed their ability to respond quickly to
changes in consumer demand is a critical
factor in the success of their businesses.
At the other end of the chain, collecting
and analysing information to understand
problems and building up the capacity of
producer organisations to implement plans to
correct them and strengthen their operations
is a much more difficult and time-consuming
process. Companies working most closely
with producers noted the efforts required to
develop a shared understanding of these
issues and wanted those closer to the market
to take more account of smallholder farmers’
context by making longer-term commitments
and allowing a realistic period for investments
to generate changes.