I have talked about how I want to develop an eco friendly shop here in the UK but the Fair Trade principle encourages sustaniable agriculture and protects the enviroment, and these make for essential components for a sustainable business. The Fair Trade social premium, which is a payment that a producer receives in addition to the Fair trade price and which must be invested in community development. It is usual for it to be invested into enviromental projects, for example Banana farmers in Columbia have been working on an extensive enviromental programme funded by their social premium. They have swapped herbicides for manual weeding, switched to organic fertillizers nad reforested riverbanks. A community rubbish clearance programme run by local women has also been established to collect and recycle the discarded plastic bags used extensively to protect bananas growing on the trees.

In order to improve the quality of theri coffee crop, farmers in Ethiopia have attended workshops run by their co-operative on composting the by-products of coffee production and utilizing shade trees and natural fertilizers to enrich the soil. They have also learnt to inter-crop their coffee plants with citrus and bananas to improve soil quality and increase food security.

Increased income from Fair Trade sales of their cotton will help Indian farmers to develop organic programmes. Farmers produce much of their organic fertilliser needs from manure of their own cows and pesticide sprays are made from the oil of crushed neen tree kernals. Cotton farmer Khima Ranchhold explains " A higher income means we will be able to increase production"

Projects funded by the social premium by an organic tea growers co-operative in Sri Lanka include the purchase of cowes and goats. As well as generating extra income for the farmers from the sale of milk, the dung is crucial to organic agriculture as it forms that basis of the orgainc compost used to fertilise the tea bushes and other crops.

Source Fairtrade Magazine Winter 2006