1. Producer images and quotes
Fairtrade Fortnight 2017
Images and quotes from producers to use in your Fairtrade Fortnight materials and activities. Images are available for you to use in high and low res files. Please credit the photographers when using these images. You will find further notes and quotes in the notes section of this presentation.
You can find many more case studies of farmers and workers from the Fairtrade system at:
Producers:
Olivia Mwombeki, Kagera Co-operative Union, Tanzania. Coffee farmer. Photographer: Matt Crossick.
Leonidas Jiménez Chaparro, BANAFRUCOOP, Colombia, Banana farmer. Photographer: Theo Hessing/OBR Studios
Fred Ejakait, non-Fairtrade small-scale gold miner, Uganda. Photographer: Fairtrade Foundation
Ben Moffat, Eastern Outgrowers (EOT), Malawi. Tea farmer. Photographer: Fairtrade Foundation

2. Olivia Mwombeki, coffee farmer. Kagera Co-operative Union, Tanzania
‘With Fairtrade we have improved facilities here and enhanced quality and production – we couldn’t have achieved them without it’
Olivia is a Fairtrade coffee farmer and member of Kagera Co-operative Union (KCU), a group of around 60,000 producers in north-west Tanzania.
Farmers in Olivia’s region generally own small plots of land, with an average farm size of just 0.8 hectares. Coffee is the main cash crop, grown alongside small quantities of food crops, including matoke (green bananas), cassava, beans, yams, maize and vegetables. Some also keep livestock such as cattle, pigs and chickens.
The region is characterised by poverty, with limited access to clean water, healthcare and education. Farmers have invested their Fairtrade Premium in these areas, and in supporting farmers to improve the quality of their coffee so that they can attract a better price. In addition to farming her own coffee trees, Olivia is also employed as a field officer at KCU to support training.
‘There is general poverty in the region but with training the farmers are able to rise above it. My job is to train others and help them not go hungry. If their crops can meet the specifications, the coffee gets good prices and they have a good livelihood.’
Earning enough to provide for their families is a constant balancing act for millions of smallholder farmers like Olivia. For many, cash crops like coffee provide part of their income. They also earn money from selling other food products locally, and rely on income from family members.
Cash crops can provide a significant contribution to household incomes, when a fair price is paid. However, over-reliance can also lead to food insecurity when crops fail, or the price paid doesn’t cover the costs of production.
Before Fairtrade, Olivia didn’t earn enough from coffee farming to support her family, and faced tough choices every day to try and make ends meet.
‘There are times I have really struggled and have had to work extra hard. I had to juggle 24 hours a day when the children were younger to put food on the table. If I couldn’t feed my children this would encourage them to thieve so I can’t let that happen.’
After her husband passed away in 2003, Olivia got into debt trying to feed her family as well as pay her children’s school fees.
‘I needed to spend my money on my children’s education… I have debts because of this and I have not been able to afford a tin roof on my house.’
On top of ensuring at least the Fairtrade Minimum Price is paid to farmers (calculated to cover the average sustainable cost of production), working to improve the quality of their coffee is one way Fairtrade supports farmers like Olivia to earn a better income.
‘With Fairtrade we have improved facilities here and enhanced quality and production – we couldn’t have achieved them without it.’
The Fairtrade Premium also eases the pressure on farmer incomes by investing in social projects, such as healthcare and education, which would otherwise cost money to access and often involve lots of travel.
Farmers can also invest in increasing efficiency and growing their businesses. Olivia’s co-operative needed essential infrastructure to connect farming communities and coffee production areas. KCU have invested Fairtrade Premium in roads and bridges, saving valuable time and expense for farmers in getting their coffee to market. The Fairtrade Premium has also been used to build and improve schools and health centres.
When farmers are able to process their raw commodity, they can capture more of the value of the final product. Thanks to people choosing Fairtrade coffee, KCU have even used Fairtrade Premium to help build their own instant coffee factory, the first in Tanzania.
‘My message to people in the UK is please buy more Fairtrade so you can keep remembering the farmers over here who grow the coffee.’

3. Leonidas Jiménez Chaparro, banana farmer. BANAFRUCOOP, Colombia
‘Before Fairtrade we were losing money… now we are getting a better price when selling our boxes of bananas.
If it weren’t for Fairtrade we would have sold our land’
Leonidas is a banana farmer. Before Fairtrade, he struggled to attract a price for his bananas that even covered his costs.
‘Before Fairtrade we were losing money… now we are getting a better price when selling our boxes of bananas. We used to sell our boxes and see no profit out of it; we were not calculating the exportation costs. Fairtrade has trained us, now we know the real price of a box and that allows us to negotiate.’
‘We feel valued, respected. Even the traders see that we are stronger in that sense.’
‘If it weren’t for Fairtrade we would have sold our land.'
You can find out more about Leonidas’ co-operative BANAFRUCOOP here: and in this video featuring fellow BANAFRUCOOP member, Julio Mercado Cantillo:

4. Fred Ejakait, gold miner (non-Fairtrade), Uganda
‘The price of gold goes up and down… the middleman wants to get the best price for himself and it’s not fair. There is nothing I can do because I don’t know where they take the gold’
Fred isn’t a Fairtrade miner. He goes hungry for days because he can’t afford to buy food. He can only eat when the vegetables in his garden are in season. He works in massively unsafe conditions – and life is a gamble – never knowing if all his hard work and digging will be rewarded with gold. Even if he does, he gets ripped off by the middleman who buys it from him.
‘The price of gold goes up and down. Now the price is low. The middlemen tell us whether it is high or low. But the middleman may lie or tell the truth. The middleman wants to get the best price for himself and it’s not fair. There is nothing I can do because I don’t know where they take the gold.’
We met Fred when visiting gold miners for this article in the Telegraph which details more of the exploitation faced by small-scale miners:

5. Ben Moffat, tea farmer, EOT, Tanzania
‘I encourage you to drink more tea from Malawi: from smallholders and on Fairtrade terms, for the betterment of us farmers.’
Ben is a tea farmer. Although he is Fairtrade certified, Ben is not able to sell enough on Fairtrade terms to give his family the future he would like, as the market price for tea is so low.  As a result, his son had to drop out of school and move away to work and he doesn’t earn enough to be able to send money back. Ben hopes for a brighter future for his daughter. But because of the cost of school fees, she still hasn’t been able to finish her schooling.
‘It has also been difficult to cover school fees. My daughter is 24 years old and still in Year 4 [usually for 16 year olds]. It is the lack of funds that has delayed her education.’
In addition to infrastructure and community projects, farmers have invested their Fairtrade Premium in boosting productivity so they can earn more from their farms.
‘I have been a member since The access to subsidised fertiliser has resulted in the tea being greener and me growing more – kg per month.’
Ben wants to improve his farm and grow more, but after buying food to feed his family, isn’t left with enough to buy new seedlings.
‘I encourage you to drink more tea from Malawi: from smallholders and on Fairtrade terms, for the betterment of us farmers.’