What is Fairtrade?

Fairtrade is an international certification system for agricultural products, which aims to protect the environment and the rights of small farmers and farmworkers.

The Fairtrade label on a product gives you good assurance that it was produced in a sustainable way, and helped alleviate poverty.

Fairtrade products available in South Africa include:

• Wine (South Africa is the largest producer of Fairtrade wine in the world): De Bos, Deetlefs, Fairhills, Five’s Reserve, House of Mandela, Palesa, Place in the Sun, Rhythms of Nature, Thandi Wines, Tukulu.
• Tea: Topqualitea, Clipper Teas, QI Teas.
• Coffee: Bean There, Ciro, Espresseco Biodegradable Capsules, Fabino, Puro, Woolworths Espresso and Instant coffee ranges, coffee sold at Woolworths W Cafés.
• Chocolate: Cadbury Dairy Milk, Green & Black’s.
• Food: EGA Juice, Redwood Fairtrade Flapjacks (a vegan snack), Fairtrade Original Spice Grinders, Zaytoun Green Olives
• Cotton: Puma Wilderness Collection.

Buying these products is a way to make your consumer buck work for sustainability directly through Fairtrade projects.

It also demonstrates to producers and manufacturers in general that fair, environmentally sound practices make good business sense because they keep us, the customers, happy.