The Sort Of Fair Trade Malawi Offers Is Helping To Create Sustainable Markets

By Lila Barry


The kind of fair trade Malawi provides has been a notable success in recent years, with the south east African country being able to improve working conditions and access to fair markets for its farmers. There is still much to do though. Small farmers in this part of Africa contribute around 60 per cent of their nation's agricultural GDP, but still face considerable challenges.

Small farmers here though are battling in the face of a number of different challenges which continue to make their task difficult though. One challenge is a lack of technical agricultural knowledge, which often hampers the way farms can grow. Unreliable access to fair markets is another massive challenge for the farmers, as it limits the sustainability of their business.

This inability to access decent markets makes it hard for the farmers to feed their families, which in turn directly affects the lives of their children. Access to education becomes much more difficult, as does finding decent healthcare and other social services. The farmers therefore require strong support to enable them to develop as they should.

The government of Malawi continues to fight a noble and relatively successful battle against hunger and the ongoing food insecurity much of its population endures, but more support is required. This is why fairtrade organisations in Malawi continue to work with farmers to help them better manage output and the quality of that output. The wider economy of the country, both its agricultural sector and more widely, are strengthened as a result.

Fair trade organisations look to help the farmers in this particular part of Africa address these challenges. One way of doing this is to open up access to markets for small farmers, helping to stimulate demand for their products. They look to build more direct links between farmers and potential customers, which helps to create a more personal sense of involvement, with the relationships allowing a more robust and resilient business plan to develop.

As a result of this work, farmers can make their farms sustainable financially, which adds greater security to their lives overall. Fairtrade organisations began working in Malawi in 1998, and since that date nine organisations have sprung up, all across the country. They work with around 20,000 farmers and other agricultural workers.

These crops include groundnuts, as well as tea and coffee, while sugar also remains an important component of many farms' work. Fairtrade organisations have focused much of their energy on ensuring that farmers have a market for these crops. By stimulating greater demand for ethical trade, the farmers can continue to grow their commercial operations.

It can be seen that the kind of practises involving fair trade Malawi organisations offer is considerably helping in the fight against food insecurity in the region. In the years since this type of work was begun, 1998, many organisations have sprung up across the country, and continue their work with farmers. If farmers continue to receive this kind of targeted support, then the battle against hunger may one day be won.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment