April 2013 The Politics of Fairtrade Sugar in Belize ... - Sucre Ethique

More documents

Recommendations

Info

4 One of the major corporate developments in the global sugar industry has been the sale by the UK company Tate & Lyle of its sugar division to American Sugar Refining (ASR); the world’s largest refining company and a subsidiary of the Florida sugar empire built up by the Fanjul brothers. In turn, ASR then acquired a controlling stake in Belize Sugar Industries (BSI), the owner of the only sugar mill in Belize. This was notable since a few years prior to this, almost 6,000 independent cane farmers who work in Belize – grouped together by the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association (BSCFA) – had been certified by the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation. This high degree of multinational corporate control over the Fairtrade supply chain is something the report turns to later. The certification itself meant that the raw sugar exported from Belize to the UK would be sold on the supermarket shelves under the Tate & Lyle brand (which was retained by ASR) but now with a Fairtrade logo attached. At the time, this was the biggest Fairtrade commitment undertaken by any corporation in the world and posited as a way for countries suffering the fallout of EU sugar reform to target ‘value added’ luxury markets instead of undifferentiated bulk markets (Agritrade 2008). From the Belizean point of view, the benefit of this was to shore up a long-term supply arrangement with its biggest buyer whilst also allowing a Fairtrade premium of $60 a tonne to be sent back to the farmers to invest in agronomic and social projects. Together, these would hopefully mitigate the reduced and volatile market prices that country would now be exposed to (unlike other Fairtrade commodities, there is no minimum price set for Fairtrade sugar purchases, so there is still no protection from downward trends in this respect). From the point of view of the refiner, the switch to Fairtrade would similarly allow them to secure supplies of raw sugar, particularly important at a time when prices would become more volatile. They would also allow the Tate & Lyle brand to project itself in a more positive light – as seen in the Fairtrade advertising campaign which referred to the company as ‘Tate & Smile’ – and thereby appeal to customers as well as ‘greening’ the corporate image. However, the strategy of using Fairtrade certification as a means of development has not been without its critics. In terms of its immediate livelihood impacts, Jaffee (2007) found in the coffee industry that while Fairtrade certification did have a positive income-effect for farmers, the overall benefits were slight given the rising costs that many faced at the same time. Considering development in the sense of a broader economic transformation, LeClair (2002) argued that Fairtrade “retards the diversification of production that is fundamentally necessary for the economic advancement of developing countries [and] promotes continued reliance on products that are arguably poor prospects in the long-run”. Finally, Fridell (2007) has questioned the inclusiveness of certification initiatives like Fairtrade, which are ultimately targeted at market niches, compared to state-governed price management regimes like international commodity agreements and national price floors. This also plays into the political consciousness attached to Fairtrade, which might be better seen as a form of middle-class conspicuous consumption steadily being co-opted by agri-food
5 corporations, rather than an expression of solidarity for the empowerment of Third World farmers (Fridell, 2007). These criticisms pose a number of questions for this case: have Belizean cane farmers become locked into sugar instead of being helped out of it? What kind of politics has been forgone by pursuing an arrangement mapped out by multinational companies and NGOs? And who has benefitted from the introduction of Fairtrade in the Belizean sugar industry? Based on fieldwork undertaken in Belize during 2010 and 2012 as part of a doctoral thesis on sugar industry adaptation, this report seeks to address these questions. Fair Trade or Foul: Whose Perspective Matters? In assessing the merits of Fairtrade, it is important to disaggregate the Belizean sugar industry and consider the different groups and perspectives involved. First is the sugar mill, formerly owned by the worker-controlled Belize Sugar Industries, but now taken over by the multinational company ASR. When Fairtrade certification was first introduced in the Belize sugar industry in February 2008, the BSI’s then Chairman, Barry Newton, expressed concern that the premiums would not be invested in business improvements like machinery and training but instead in administration costs and new forms of subsidisation. In his words, this would not change the “dependency culture and operating dynamics of [the] cane farming sector” (Newton, 2008). The BSI’s own attempts to improve farmer competitiveness, however, have not been without their problems. In 2009, cane farmers reacted with hostility to the introduction of equipment to sample the sucrose content of the cane, which they believed would lower the prices they were paid by the sugar mill. In the ensuing protests, one farmer, Atanacio Gutierrez, was shot dead and others injured in clashes with police forces. As one cane farmer put it in an interview: “you don’t play with the daily bread of a farmer”. The second group is the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association (BSCFA), whose functions include the provision of agrochemicals to members on credit/discounted prices and implementing practices to improve the production, harvest and delivery of sugar cane. It is this organisation which is certified by the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation and thus in control of managing the premiums. According to Mr Brown (pseudonym), a senior official of the BSCFA, Fairtrade was a “blessing for cane farmers”. He stated that with the premiums several beneficial programmes were undertaken, especially towards upgrading cane fields in order to improve cane quality and the livelihoods of the surrounding communities in the Sugar Belt. Yet the relationship between BSCFA and Fairtrade has not been smooth. Just over a year after the BSCFA was certified it was then suspended for a litany of noncompliances with the Fairtrade standard. These related to mismanagement of the premium – totalling almost US$4m in the first year – and a lack of accountability in the governing committees. The suspension has since been lifted following the creation of an Environmental Department and Projects
Page 1 and 2: Ethical-Sugar April 2013 The Politi
Page 3: 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972
Page 7 and 8: 7 the larger farmers with over 400
Page 9 and 10: 9 Campaign Material for the Proper
Page 11 and 12: 11 beneficiaries - the farmers - in
Page 13 and 14: 13 encourage mechanical harvesting
Page 15 and 16: 15 And despite reform to the BCSFA,
Page 17 and 18: 17 About Ethical Sugar This researc

April 2013 The Politics of Fairtrade Sugar in Belize ... - Sucre Ethique

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?