Farmers, Businesses and Shoppers who wins and who loses in the world s food market?

Farmers, Businesses and Shoppers who wins and who loses in the world s food market? YEARS: 5 10 LEARNING OBJECTIVES VALUES KEY COMPETENCIES RESOURCES Evaluate the impact of an unfair global food trade on farmers. Evaluate the effect on farmers of the Fairtrade scheme. Equity Community and participation Thinking Participating and contributing Large world map. Photocopies of the Market Share Job Cards. 5 paper bananas. Fairtrade banana slide show. ACHIEVEMENT OBJECTIVES / CURRICULAR LINKS Social Sciences L2: Understand that people have social, cultural and economic roles, rights and responsibilities. L3: Understand how people make decisions about access to and use of resources. L4: Understand how producers and consumers exercise their rights and meet their responsibilities. SOCIAL INQUIRY FOCUS Exploring values and perspectives: Students develop critical thinking and social inquiry skills through discussion around trade, distribution and cost, and the values and perspectives that drive the free market, students consider ideas for social action. PEDAGOGY Interest: Students connect with products that they consume daily in an engaging and stimulating manner. OUTLINE To understand where our food comes from and who produces it. Young people will explore the relationships between farmers, businesses and shoppers as they interact to form the world food system via a simulation game based on the banana industry. Young people will be introduced to the idea that the global food system is not always fair. Young people will be introduced to the concept of fair trade; how this benefits small scale farmers and what they can do to make the global food system more sustainable. The lesson programme is in five parts: 1. Introduction Class discussion underlines how we interact globally on a daily basis. 2. Where bananas grow Discussion with world map identifies geographic regions where bananas grow. 3. Who wins and who loses? Slide show and role play the slide show explains how bananas arrive in our supermarkets, the role play examines the relative payment to stakeholders and introduces the concept of fairness in the world food market. 4. Case studies Group work students create a piece of work based around real case studies of small scale farmers co operatives supported by Oxfam or the Fairtrade Association. 5. What can you do? Group discussion and/or social action ideas to motivate students into social action. KEYWORDS Fair trade, global food system, food justice, small scale farmer, co operative, social action Page 1

Activity Details Outcomes Resources required 1.Introduction /Starter activity The World in My Shopping Bag Aim: to make young people aware of the links they have to other countries/ their role in a globalised world via the food they eat, the clothes they wear, communications and travel. Activity: Ask young people to find someone else in the group who - has eaten a food from another country this week - is wearing an item of clothing made in another country - can say hello in another language - has telephoned/ e-mailed/ written to someone living in another country recently. Bring the group back together. Ask young people to shout out their responses (for younger groups you could ask them to come up to the board and point out the country on the world map). As you receive responses, mark a line from New Zealand to the country mentioned. By the end, there should be lines stretching out to every continent to reflect the global links the class has. Increased awareness of the issues and empathy for the children affected. Large world map (paper or smart board). Atlas or access to on-line maps to check location of countries. 2. Where do bananas grow? Ask the class where bananas grow. (For younger groups who may be struggling, tell them that they grow in tropical areas where the weather is sunny, hot and there is heavy rainfall.) Young people could call out the answers which could be pointed to on a large world map. (Or come up with a list as small groups- the team with the most correct suggestions wins.) Examples of banana producing countries include: Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, USA, Australia, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Mexico, Caribbean, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, the Philippines, Thailand, and India. To recognise the regions which produce the bananas which are sold in the supermarket. Large world map (paper or smart board). Atlas or access to on-line maps to check location of countries. 3. Who wins and who loses? - Bananas Tell the class they are going to learn about bananas grown in Ecuador; the farmers who grow them and the journey from farm to New Zealand supermarket shelves. At this point you could highlight Ecuador on a world map. Use slide show and script of The Journey of a Banana up to the introduction of the role play (whole banana slide 11) Divide the group in five small groups. Explain they are going to do a role play activity to learn about the different groups of people involved in the banana trade. Briefly explain the five roles: grower, Banana Trading Company, Shipping/Importing/Packaging, Wholesaler and Retailer. Give each group a role. To understand how a banana is grown and arrives in our supermarket; to understand that (cont ) Who wins? PowerPoint slide show. Market share role cards (p16) Page 2

Ensure there are enough role cards for each young person to have one to read. Ask the young people to read the role cards they have been given. Display the large photo of the banana (Slide11 from Who wins? PowerPoint). Explain to the class that a banana costs around 60c in the supermarket. Explain that the 60c goes to the five groups involved in the banana trade, but isn t divided equally between the groups. Give the groups 5 minutes to discuss the work their role (grower, retailer etc) carries out. They should also decide what share they think they should earn from the 60c. Groups should consider the amount of work involved, what their job entails and the expenses they have to meet. They should write their share on their group s paper banana and assign a spokesperson to tell the rest of the class why they decided on the amount. Each group should stick their banana showing their share onto the board. Draw young peoples attention to the bananas and ask the group to add up how much the banana would cost if everyone was paid what they wanted. It is highly likely that the total will add up to more than 60c. Reveal the actual division of income by showing the banana on PowerPoint Slide 12. Spend a few minutes discussing the following points: -who gets what? -how do the growers feel? -what division would be fairer? Key Idea: The banana growers receive only a small amount of the money we pay for bananas, and find it hard to make a living. The largest proportion of the retail price goes to shipping, importing and packaging, wholesalers and retail companies. (cont...) the division of income derived from a banana is not simple and not always fair. Introduction to Fairtrade scheme. 5 paper bananas (you can use template p.18 below) Final slide of slide show introduces the Fairtrade logo. 4.Case studies (page 5-14) There are 5 case studies which allow young people to explore in greater detail the positive effect Fairtrade and investment schemes for small-scale farmers has had on individuals. Long and short versions of the case studies have been included depending on the level of groups. Give each small group a case study and ask them to read it. Explain that in these cases a co-operative is a group of farmers who share information and tools and work together to improve their farms and to bring money into their communities. Fairtrade Australia New Zealand and Oxfam New Zealand work with small-scale farming co-operatives to improve their situation. Encourage groups to highlight the benefits investment or Fairtrade has brought to the individual and some of the challenges they faced previously. Gain an insight into the challenges facing farmers, and the benefits of Fairtrade and supporting smallscale farming. 5 case studies Page 3

Small groups could summarize briefly their case study to the rest of the class. If there is more time, challenge each small group to produce a creative response to the case study. Groups could produce a song/ rap/ poem/ news report/ drama about their case study. Groups could present their pieces to the rest of the group, or in an assembly to allow young people to share with their peers their learning on the global food system. 5. What can we do? Diamond Ranking (page 15) Aim: to think critically about what young people can do to make a difference to small-scale farmers around the world. Explain that Oxfam believes young people can make a positive difference to small-scale farmers by taking action in their local community. If young people are interested, there are a variety of things they can do. Divide the class into small groups (3/4 young people in each). Give each group a set of 9 action cards - ask them not to touch them until you have finished giving the instructions. Explain that on each of the nine cards, there is something that Oxfam invites people to do to generate positive change. Their task is to rank these in a diamond-nine formation 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 The cards should be arranged in this shape. They should put the preferred one at the top and the one they are least inclined to do at the bottom. Say up front that all the choices can make a real difference but that people sometimes feel that some are better - or more appropriate to their circumstance - than others. Ask young people to be prepared to feed back their group s choices with reasons. Think critically about how young people can make positive change Multiple sets of Action Cards Extension work: choose a social action to support Fairtrade farmers, take part in Oxfam s Biggest Chocolate Break, get more ideas from Oxfam New Zealand s website school links. Page 4

Case Study: Impact of Fairtrade Credit: All Good Organics, New Zealand Anibal has a medium-sized piece of land where he grows bananas and some cocoa. Since 2003 he has been a member of El Guabo Co-operative of 450 small-scale banana producers. Anibal has lived on this farm since he was 6 years old. Life was tough for his family before they joined El Guabo. Originally his father Luis farmed cocoa on their land. The problem with cocoa is that it only produces an income for four months of the year, the other eight months we had to borrow money to maintain the farm when there was no production. We had to migrate to big banana plantations to find more work in these eight months to be able to survive. Anibal wanted to find a way to change this situation for his family. In the early 1990s, Anibal heard about the El Guabo banana co-operative. Anibal decided to learn all he could about growing and processing bananas. I didn t know the process so I went to the producers to learn what I could. Now my Dad is very happy we joined El Guabo and is thankful for all the opportunities this has given us. I have been a social member, treasurer and am now the secretary of El Guabo. This has meant a lot to me economically because I was in a very poor economic situation. Now we have a level of income that is a lot more stable throughout the year for our families and workers. When I started selling bananas to El Guabo I only had 10 boxes of bananas, now I have a much larger volume. With the help of Fairtrade, life is much better. Anibal Cabrera s daughter Noemi is about to do what no one else in his family has. Go to university. This is thanks to the money received from selling Fairtrade bananas. Thanks to fair trade my daughter has a high level of education. This is what all the farmers at El Guabo hope for. She is now preparing to go to university. What can you do? Look for the Fairtrade logo on the bananas you buy to support Fairtrade farmers like Aniba Cabrera. Page 5

Case Study: Impact of Fairtrade Credit: All Good Organics, New Zealand Anibal has been growing bananas for nearly three decades. When he first purchased his land it was overgrown and wild. There was no water on his property. His neighbours in the bordering country of Peru would take all the water to irrigate their land from the nearby water sources, leaving Anibal with no water on his property. I almost decided to leave because there was not enough water, but then my bananas started to produce and I decided to stay and build my own homemade well and that was the beginning of what you can see now at my farm. Step by step I was recovering the farm and replanting. After some time I built a better well to take out more water. In the beginning things were very difficult, but now it is much better. Before fair trade, growers sold their bananas through dealers; a system that often meant payment was too low to cover basic costs, making fair wages impossible. In 2008 Anibal joined El Guabo, a Fairtrade certified banana growers co-operative. Fairtrade has meant a guaranteed fair wage and long-term supply contract. I heard that El Guabo was starting a group in my town and I decided to join them. I know that El Guabo is a serious company and they pay a fair price according to the law. Now I am happy that I am a member of El Guabo and can see the difference it makes and how serious they are about helping their producers. Today El Guabo works with over 450 banana farmers and their families in Ecuador. Farmers are now able to manage their own exports, have quality monitoring systems in place and have much improved living and working conditions. What can you do? Look for the Fairtrade logo on the bananas you buy to support Fairtrade farmers like Anibal Aponte. Page 6

Case Study: Investing in small-scale farmers Credit: Oxfam New Zealand Dominggas Sousa co-operative farming with Oxfam New Zealand in East Timor Dominggas Sousa lives with her two daughters and two sons in Holsa Village, East Timor. East Timor (also known as Timor Leste) is a small country south of Indonesia. Life used to be very difficult for Dominggas, growing crops on her land about 3 kilometres from her house and looking after her family. She joined the Seka Co-operative in 2009. The Seka Co-operative is not Fairtrade certified but is part of the MCE-A Co-operative which is supported by Oxfam and helps farmers improve their growing methods. Now Dominggas is proud of the new farming methods she has learned from the cooperative. She can buy better seed, has better transport to market and can share tools and information with other farmers in the co-operative. The members also help each other tending and gathering crops. As part of the co-operative she has a voice in the decision making of the organisation. Joining with other farmers she is growing more and better crops and earning more than before. The extra money she receives from her rice, corn, nuts and watermelon, pays for her daughters to attend junior high school at Maliana. Oxfam supports small-scale famers in our neighbouring countries throughout the Pacific and Southeast Asia. What can you do? Support Oxfam New Zealand so they can continue their work with smallscale producers in New Zealand s neighbour countries. Join in Oxfam s Biggest Chocolate Break during Fair Trade Fortnight to support farmers like Dominggas. Page 7

Case Study: Investing in small-scale farmers Credit: Oxfam New Zealand Faiumu Faimafili and her coconut oil farm Oxfam New Zealand has been supporting Women in Business Development Incorporated (WIBDI) in Samoa since 2001. WIBDI was established in 1991 to assist rural communities in Samoa, and has helped Samoan farmers reach internationally recognised organic certification standards. This has helped rural families earn more money, and means less people rely on family members working in towns and overseas. Faiumu Faimafili and her family are now all working on their organic farm and producing coconut oil for export to The Body Shop. Her two older sons lived away from the family and struggled to send cash back home for their daily needs. With their coconut oil production the family now earns a lot more every week. With this they have been able to borrow money to rebuild their home, and their two sons have returned home to help with the family business. They regularly sell organic produce at the monthly organic market, and even hire people from the village to help out with coconut oil production. People now believe that agriculture is a good way to earn money they are now returning home to the villages, as families are able to earn a proper income and develop the land. It is because of the strong family culture in Samoa that WIBDI focuses its programmes on individual families and not whole village communities or individuals alone. When a family earns cash for themselves they tend to take more responsibility for the project. Because community contributions, such as church and school donations, are such a part of the Samoan way of life, projects that strengthen individual families have a flow on effect to the wider community. What can you do? Support Oxfam New Zealand so they can continue their work with smallscale producers in New Zealand s neighbour countries. Look for organic coconut oil products at The Body Shop. Page 8

Case Study: Fairtrade helps the wider community Credit: All Good Organics, New Zealand Using the Fairtrade Social Premium El Guabo El Guabo is committed to improving the quality of life of their members and their communities. El Guabo receives a Fairtrade premium, a sum of money paid on top of the Fairtrade price. The 450 small-scale farmers who make up the El Guabo cooperative vote on how the funds are spent in their community. El Guabo members have decided to invest the social premium in health clinics, local schools, business development and environmental projects amongst many other things. Since Fairtrade bananas were launched in New Zealand in February 2010, Kiwis have contributed over $150,000 (NZD) to the El Guabo community in Fairtrade premium funding alone. The premium helps fund 17 primary school teachers and a special needs school. These schools are located in areas where producers and workers of El Guabo live and where their children attend. The El Guabo Medical Centre was set up to ensure that every family belonging to the association is able to get good medical care when they need it. The service is available 24 hours a day all year round. The centre is staffed with 5 health care professionals. In 2009, the health centre saw 7,084 patients. The co-operative has also invested in organic fertilizer from chicken poop and organic waste. Using this organic fertilizer, they hope to be able to raise production by 50% or more. It s also a great way of helping other local companies and improving the sustainability of the community. Twenty percent of the premium funds are spent on developing business and projects to improve infrastructure and to give local farmers more say. Projects include ways to borrow money for investment, leadership development and sharing farm equipment. What can you do? Look for the Fairtrade logo on the bananas you buy to support the Fairtrade scheme and co operatives like El Guabo in Ecuador. Page 9

Case Study SHORT VERSION: Impact of Fairtrade Credit: All Good Organics, New Zealand Anibal Cabrera has a medium-sized piece of land where he grows bananas and some cocoa. Since 2003 he has been a member of El Guabo Co-operative of 450 small-scale banana producers. Anibal has lived on this farm since he was 6 years old. Life was tough for his family before they joined El Guabo. His father Luis used to farm cocoa on their land. Cocoa only made money during four months of the year. To survive they had to borrow money or move away to big banana plantations to work during the rest of the year. Anibal wanted to find a way to change this situation for his family. Anibal heard about the El Guabo banana co-operative. He decided to learn all he could about growing and processing bananas. He joined the co-operative and now grows his own bananas. I was in a very poor situation. Now our income is stable throughout the year. When I started selling bananas to El Guabo I only had 10 boxes of bananas, now I grow many more. With the help of Fairtrade, life is much better. Anibal Cabrera s daughter Noemi is about to do what no one else in his family has: go to university. This is thanks to the money received from selling Fairtrade bananas. What can you do? Look for the Fairtrade logo on the bananas you buy to support Fairtrade farmers like Anibal Cabrera. Page 10

Case Study SHORT VERSION: Impact of Fairtrade Credit: All Good Organics, New Zealand Anibal Aponte has been growing bananas for nearly 30 years. When he bought his land it was overgrown and wild. There was no water. His neighbours in the bordering country of Peru took all the local water for their land, leaving Anibal with no water on his property. I almost decided to leave because there was not enough water, but then my bananas started to produce and I decided to stay and build my own well and that was the beginning of what you can see now at my farm. In the beginning things were very difficult, but now it is much better. Before fair trade, growers sold their bananas through dealers and payment was often too low to cover costs. In 2008 Anibal joined El Guabo, a Fairtrade certified banana growers cooperative. Fairtrade has meant a guaranteed fair wage and long-term contract. I heard that El Guabo was starting a group in my town and I decided to join them. El Guabo pay a fair price according to the law. Now I am happy that I am a member of El Guabo and can see how serious they are about helping their producers. Today El Guabo works with over 450 banana farmers and their families in Ecuador. Farmers are now able to manage their own exports, have quality monitoring systems in place and have much better living and working conditions. What can you do? Look for the Fairtrade logo on the bananas you buy to support Fairtrade farmers like Anibal Aponte. Page 11

Case Study SHORT VERSION: Investing in small-scale farmers Credit: Oxfam New Zealand Dominggas Sousa co-operative farming with Oxfam New Zealand in East Timor Dominggas Sousa lives with her two daughters and two sons in Holsa Village, East Timor. East Timor (also known as Timor Leste is a small country near Indonesia. Life used to be very difficult for Dominggas, growing crops on her land about 3 kilometres from her house and looking after her family. She joined the Seka Co-operative in 2009. This farmers co-operative is supported by Oxfam New Zealand and helps farmers improve their growing methods. Now Dominggas can buy better seed, has better transport to market and can share tools and information with other farmers. The members also help each other with looking after and gathering crops. As part of the cooperative she can join in making decisions for the organisation. With the other farmers she is growing more and better crops and earning more than before. The extra money she receives from her rice, corn, nuts and watermelon, pays for her daughters to attend junior high school. What can you do? Support Oxfam New Zealand so they can continue their work with smallscale producers in New Zealand s neighbour countries. Join in Oxfam s Biggest Chocolate Break during Fair Trade fortnight to support farmers like Dominggas. Page 12

Case Study SHORT VERSION: Investing in small-scale farmers Credit: Oxfam New Zealand Faiumu Faimafili and her coconut oil farm Oxfam New Zealand has been supporting Women in Business Development Incorporated (WIBDI) in Samoa since 2001. WIBDI began in 1991 and has helped Samoan farmers earn more money so less people rely on family members working in towns and overseas. Faiumu Faimafili and her family are now all working on their organic farm and producing coconut oil for export to The Body Shop. The two older sons used to live away from the family and tried to send cash back home to help pay the bills. But it was difficult. With their coconut oil production the family now earns a lot more every week. With this money they are able to rebuild their home, and the two sons have returned home to help with the family business. They regularly sell organic produce at the monthly organic market, and even hire people from the village to help with coconut oil production. People now believe that farming is a good way to earn money they are returning home to the villages to develop the land. Contributions, such as church and school donations, are a big part of the Samoan way of life, so projects that help individual families are good for the whole community. What can you do? Support Oxfam New Zealand so they can continue their work with smallscale producers in New Zealand s neighbour countries. Look for organic coconut oil products at The Body Shop. Page 13

Case Study SHORT VERSION: Fairtrade helps the wider community Credit: Oxfam New Zealand How El Guabo uses the Fairtrade bonus money El Guabo receives a Fairtrade premium, a sum of money paid on top of the price for bananas. The 450 small-scale farmers who make up the El Guabo cooperative vote on how the money is spent in their community. El Guabo members have decided to spend the premium money on health clinics, local schools, business development and environmental projects amongst many other things. Since Fairtrade bananas were launched in New Zealand in February 2010, Kiwis have contributed over $150,000 (NZD) to the El Guabo community in Fairtrade premiums alone. The premium helps pay for 17 primary school teachers and a special needs school near to where producers and workers of El Guabo live. The El Guabo Medical Centre was set up to ensure that every family in the association can get good medical care when they need it. The extra money is also spent on other projects such as organic fertiliser, easier ways to borrow money to improve farms and sharing farm equipment. What can you do? Look for the Fairtrade logo on the bananas you buy to support the Fairtrade scheme and co operatives like El Guabo in Ecuador. Page 14

Fair Trade Action Cards The best action is to Buy Fairtrade products. There are hundreds of products available; from T-shirts to tea; from coffee to rice; from chocolate to bananas. The best action is to Try out some Fairtrade recipes For more recipe ideas visit www.oxfamcoffeebreak.org.nz The best action is to (This card has been left blank for your own ideas) The best action is to Screen a film, followed by a panel discussion to encourage others to learn about the global food system and its inequalities. You could invite your MP to let the government know how you feel about the issues. The best action is to Tell our friends and families about fair trade and encourage them to buy Fairtrade certified products. Look for products with the Fairtrade logo at your local supermarket or buy products from Trade Aid shops. The best action is to. Perform a play or give an assembly to share with others in the school the challenges faced by small-scale farmers and what we can do to give them a fairer deal. The best action is to Take part in Oxfam s Biggest Chocolate Break during Fair Trade Fortnight and raise money for smallscale farmers like Dominggas. www.oxfamcoffeebreak.org. nz The best action is to Design a poster or leaflet about global food justice and the Fairtrade scheme to share your learning with others. You could send a copy to your MP to let the Government know how you feel about the issues The best action is to Make your school a Fairtrade school. You could ask the school council to put this on their agenda. For more information, visit www.fairtrade.org.nz/getinvolved/school Page 15

Market Share Role Cards Grower You are a small farmer who grows bananas. After planting it will take 9 months of caring for the trees before the bunches of bananas are ready to be cut down. You must protect the trees during this time from damage caused by weather and insects. To do this you must buy plastic sheets and wrap each bunch on every tree. When the bananas are ready to pick, you cut each bunch down with a large knife and pack them in boxes. You drive a van to the port to deliver your bananas to ships. Banana Trading Company You are a new company. You are the only link between farmers and the outside world. You work to get a good price for the farmers bananas and to get cheaper shipping costs. You buy pesticides, fertiliser, boxes and plastic sheeting in large amounts that the small farmers can buy from you. You offer advice about banana growing and can help arrange insurance for the farmers. Shipping and Packaging Company Your company transports the boxes of bananas in ships. The journey from Ecuador to New Zealand takes 3 weeks. In New Zealand the bananas are ripened and packed in your factory. This takes a week. The bananas are sorted into different sizes. Some are weighed and priced for selling direct to big supermarkets. Others are packed and sent to a wholesaler (who sells to smaller shops). Wholesaler You get boxes of ripe bananas from the packaging company and sell them to fruit shops, market stalls and supermarkets. Retailer You sell the ripened bananas in your shop or market stall. You have to sell them fast, before they over-ripen and turn brown. Page 16

World map Pacific view Page 17

60c Page 18

Market Share of a Banana Split of income 6c 18c Growers Shipping, importing and packaging 12c Wholesaler 6c 18c Banana Trading Company 60c Retailer (This activity is adapted from Go Bananas, Oxfam 2000) Note: the split of income cited here is representative of non Fairtrade bananas around the world and may vary depending on market fluctuations and the companies involved. Page 19

This material is adapted by Oxfam New Zealand from Farmers Businesses and Shoppers who wins and who loses in the world s food markets? 2012 with the permission of Oxfam Great Britain, Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Oxford OX4 2JY, UK www.oxfam.org.uk/education. Oxfam Great Britain does not necessarily endorse any text or activities that accompany the materials, nor has it approved the adapted text. Page 20