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• Comercio justo
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Maka Keita, cotton farmer from Mali in Africa Makais a cotton farmer in Doora village, Mali, West Africa. The village cotton farmers are fairtrade farmers, and were certified in 2005. Cotton prices were going down and down until they were below the cost of making it. People in the village were demotivated and it was very depressing. But now, we can make a reasonable living. My family can eat and we have better health. In the past, children had to walk 10 km to go to school, so really it was difficult. We have now been able to build a school. At first it had two classrooms. When we had more money and wanted to expand, we asked the government to help us and now there are five classrooms in total, and every child in the village can go to school. We have also built a food storage facility so that we can have a year-round food supply, and we have installed a pump for drinking water. We have built a new road, enabling us to travel further than 5 km outside of the village without difficulty. Fairtrade means we have to use better farming methods. Before, empty chemical containers would be used to carry water for us to drink. In some cases this led to death. Now, we get rid of waste properly. We don't burn bushes any more as the smoke was polluting the local area and killing lots of animals. I encourage everyone to buy more Fairtrade products if they want to help improve millions of lives.

Gerardo Arias Camacho, Coffee Farmer, Costa Rica, Central America Gerardo is a coffee farmer in Llano Bonito, San José, Costa Rica. He is in charge of the local fairtrade council. In 1980, the price of coffee fell so low that it didn't cover the cost of production. Many farmers abandoned their land and went to the cities to find work. Some even left the country. In the mid-90s, I decided to go to America to make money and support my family. After eight years, I had earned enough to buy the family farm in Costa Rica. But coffee prices were still so low that I was forced to go back to the America for another two years to earn more money. Prices for coffee kept changing, causing us to loose a lot of money. We did not have a local school, good roads or bridges. Now we have a fairtrade council, prices are stable and we receive the right amount of money for our coffee. We spend the money on schools, roads and bridges, and improving the old factory. We have sponsored an education programme so that our kids can stay in school. Since Fairtrade, our farms have become more environmentally friendly. Our coffee is now produced in a maintainable way. We have planted trees and reduced the use of pesticides by 80% in 10 years. We used to cut 50 acres of forest down every year to burn in the ovens at our factory. Now we have a new oven which is fuelled by rubbish, including coffee skins and the skins of macadamia nuts that we buy from farmers on the other side of Costa Rica. It is a win-win business. When you are shopping, look for the Fairtrade label - you can be sure that the money is going straight to the farmers. It will help us, but it will also help people around the world, because the benefits of protecting the environment are for everyone. It is a matter of helping each other. SELF ASSESSMENT Make sentences using the words in parenthesis. Try to comment the information in the text above.

1.

(fairtrade farmers) _______________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________

2.

(Cotton prices) __________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________

3.

(reasonable living) ______________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________

4.

(go to school) ______________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________

5.

(food storage facility) _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________

6.

(food supply) ______________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________

7.

(education programme) __________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________

8.

(environmentally friendly) ________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________

9.

(reduced the use of pesticides) _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________

10. (protecting the environment) ______________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________