Jamaican support for Fairtrade grows

Roger Clarke was speaking during the 2007-08 budget debate when he said: “Fairtrade is an organised social movement which promotes standards for international labour, environmentalism and social policy in areas relating to production of Fairtrade labelled and unlabeled goods,” said Clarke. “In other words, if we can have the necessary certification that we are producing our banana under these conditions, then consumers in the European Union are willing to pay a premium price. Of significance, a component of that price will be related to social and community projects.”

Clarke said his ministry and the EU will be working to assist growers with training, infrastructure and capacity building to attain compliances such as EurepGAP. “So far we have spent J$76 million in this process and the remaining resources of J$80m under the EU banana support programme will be directed at assisting more farmers to qualify,” said Clarke. “We are doing this as a niche in which we can hold our own. This is the formula for the banana industry.”

He added that if Jamaica was going to survive in an arena of duty or quota free access to the EU banana market, then it would have to be by increasing quality and productivity and the best option was to aim to fill a niche such as Fairtrade.

Topics