From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec

3 POVERTY AND WEALTH LIVING OFF THE LANDBOX 3.4NICHE SOLUTIONS: FAIRTRADE AND ORGANICSThe booming market for organic and fairly traded products offerssmall farmers the chance to grow and sell higher-value productswhich are more labour-intensive, thus creating more jobs.Fairtrade products carry the FAIRTRADE Mark, which guaranteesthat the market chain for the product is certified by the FairtradeLabelling Organization (FLO) to fulfil international social,economic, and environmental standards. A minimum price ispaid to the producer in advance, plus an additional premiumthat must be spent on community development.Although the Fairtrade market is growing fast, it remainsrelatively small. Global sales were estimated at €1.6bn ($2.32bn)in 2006, up 42 per cent on the 2005 figure. 68 Such figures stillconstitute a tiny fraction (about a hundredth of 1 per cent) ofglobal trade, however: fair trade is neither a panacea, nor asubstitute for wider reform of international trading systems,discussed in Part 5.While organics constitute a larger market, small-scale producersare sometimes excluded by the costs of certification and thedemanding standards involved. Moreover, unlike Fairtrade, whichis specifically designed for small farmers, large farms haveclambered on board the organics bandwagon, threatening tosqueeze out small farmers in the same way as with non-organic,high-value crops.THE ROLE OF THE STATENo matter how successful a producer organisation may be, citizenaction alone will not meet the challenge of rural development. It alsotakes an effective state. While governments in numerous countrieshave recently revived their role in agricultural policy, for two decadesboth state intervention and agriculture itself were deeply unfashionablewith aid donors and governments alike.Hostility to state intervention in agriculture was not withoutfoundation. Many of the state marketing boards dismantled at thebehest of the World Bank and the IMF under structural adjustment139