Last week, two of our large wholesale customers asked us to provide some detail on what happened to their Fair Trade dollars. Yesterday was the 3rd quarter 2009 reporting date for Fair Trade and that may have triggered this question. One company was planning to share the information at their annual company meeting starting tomorrow. When you purchase Fair Trade teas, a portion of the purchasing price is sent back to the workers of that estate to spend on projects of their choosing. Here's one year's statistics from Makaibari Tea Estate:
- $1200 - Library, computers, day care (picture shown)
- $3200 - Purchase of livestock and construction of biogas units
- $1500 - Training of villagers on health and hygiene as well as pre and post natal care
- $1500 - Hospitality training for Homestay Programme (visitors stay with villagers at their homes)
- $500 - Stipends for University education
- $3000 - Afforestation, mulching, rain water harvesting and vermi composting
