Traidcraft tour Southern India

Gill and John Parkin presents Traidcraft 'Meet the People' tour to Southern India, 2012 
(presented at All Saints Social Justice Group, February):

We started off in Kerala, landing in Kozhikode (formerly Calicut) spending some time in the city
visiting Fair Trade Alliance Kerala and visiting farmers in the hills to the north east of the city.
From there we went south by train to Allepuzha and spent one night on the backwaters before
working our way east visiting a tea growing area and the Periyar wildlife park. From there we
crossed the central Ghats into Tamil Nadu to visit a project called “Reaching the Unreached”
(which is a talk in its own right) and the Meenaskshi Temple in Madurai before travelling by
overnight train to Chennai and then by road to Pondicherry. There we visited various projects,
some connected with Traidcraft.



Fair Trade Alliance Kerala (FTAK) is spread throughout Kerala covering 3,000 small farmers
in six districts.
Coffee production is centred within Wayanad district, located some three hours
north-east of Kozhikode and around 3,000ft above sea level. There are approximately 290
farmers in this particular district and 220 are covered by organic certification.

We spent some time with Tomy Matthew, the founder director of Fair Trade Alliance Kerala at
his office. Tomy explained how the Alliance operated and spent a lot of time emphasising the
importance of the minimum price to the farmers and the value of the fairtrade premium. He
had doubts about the way in which Fairtrade has moved into the mainstream through sales in
supermarkets. His view is that supermarkets can drive down the price because they are buying
in such quantities.

We also visited Elements – a Fairtrade and organic shop - and enjoyed fairtrade organic
refreshments as well as shopping. It was amazing to see the many varieties of rice, all in
woven baskets, and the different kinds of spices on sale.

Our journey up into the hills took us along a rough road which climbed through a series of nine
hairpin bends to the Wayanad district (meaning “The land of fields”) to visit the farmers.
Coffee is grown in a very small scale way – farmers may have a handful of bushes interspersed
with various other crops – spices like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, black pepper, ginger and
cardamom: cashew nuts, vanilla, tapioca, yams, bananas, various vegetables, coconuts and
rubber. This is the so called ‘dry’ land and farmers may also have ‘wet’ land for paddy fields.

From a historical perspective, coffee has been grown here for around 50 years and only the
robusta variety can grow in this region. This is not to western taste so Traidcraft does not
purchase from this area.

We saw trees being tapped for rubber – the sap is collected and treated with acid and then
put through a mangle to produce flat strips. The strips are hung up to dry and the black colour
is produced by smoking them. They hope that the rubber will be used by Traidcraft for the
production of rubber gloves for example.

The farmers originate from southern Kerala, the families having relocated to this area more than
50 years ago. There are also indigenous tribal peoples living locally and these are landless as a result of the incoming settlers and have had little assistance. Whilst FTAK are not reaching
this group right now, the strategic thinking is that efforts should be made to introduce these
tribals into the organisation.

Farmers consistently report good prices since joining FTAK but more importantly they report
stable prices. Some farmers have been disappointed in the yields and profits since converting
to organic production but many indicated that they ‘felt healthier’ since the change. They have
natural remedies for the pests but it is an unending battle!

FTAK recently won a major victory in their campaign to ban the use of endosulfans in India.
Endosulfans are a particularly potent insecticide that has a negative effect on people and
the environment. India is one of the few places where’s its use is still permitted. We had an
especially sharp view on chemicals from one farmer’s wife, Alice, a very articulate Christian
lady, who said that in her view, to sell someone food produced using chemicals one wouldn’t
use on food for ones own family was a sin, and the way she said it made it clear she was giving
the word its full theological significance!

The Fair Trade Alliance Kerala (FTAK) and Traidcraft relationship started a number of years
ago through an early piece of Traidcraft Exchange work investigating vanilla. Since then
the FTAK has been developed as a farmer organisation certified by the Fairtrade Labelling
Organisation for a number of products – coffee, spices, vanilla and their key product, cashew
nuts. Traidcraft has recently begun discussing buying ginger and rubber from FTAK’s farmers.
In fact we were told that the ground ginger used in the Ginger Christmas tree biscuits was from
this region. You can see our host in the plantation office holding the familiar packet.

This Traidcraft tour originally started as a “Tea tour” but things have changed over the last
couple of years – we understand that Ringtons who now do the blending of the tea for Traidcraft
were not happy with the quality of tea produced and the tea estate has now passed from
the control of small farmers into the hands of a company from Calcutta. Our guide, Ranjith,
had often taken the groups to visit his contact in the area but he has moved away, so our tea
experience was limited to seeing the plantations stretching across the landscape and visiting a
conventional tea factory.

In Pondicherry we were able to visit two of SIPA’s producers who have links with Traidcraft.
SIPA is the South India Producers Association which is a small marketing and development
organisation providing support to a number of groups in South India.

SIPA has a long history in the fair trade movement, being a founder member of the International
Fairtrade Association (now the World Fairtrade Association), and the Indian Fair Trade Forum.
Ninety per cent of their producers live in rural areas.

SIPA aims to “empower the marginalized” through capacity building, supporting economic
initiatives, through support of social action programmes and through the promotion of fair trade”.
However funding problems have led to a reduction in their programme over the last few years.
The export department works directly with a several producer groups. Orders are co-ordinated
and each year the export manager makes a marketing tour to promote their products – primarily
to Europe.

As a marketing organisation SIPA acts as co-ordinator of orders for groups such as Sri Sivam
Pottery, Inner Reflection and SHILPA who each regularly supply Traidcraft. Over the last few
years Traidcraft has given support through fair trade and production planning training.

Sri Sivam is a privately owned pottery employing 55 workers, based near Pondicherry in Tamil
Nadu. Profits from the pottery support a nearby school for more than 300 children.

We were taken round the pottery, which is very unsophisticated, by a representative from SIPA
and by the master potter who founded the pottery. He has benefitted from Traidcraft’s advice
and hopes to visit Traidcraft, once visa difficulties can be sorted out.

During our visit we saw the casserole dishes which were in the last Traidcraft catalogue and
other items such as mugs and oil and vinegar sets which had been in previous catalogues. The
photograph on the left shows the master potter who founded of the Sivam pottery works with the
Traidcraft catalogue open at the page showing the casserole dishes.

An example of Traidcraft “going the extra mile” is the involvement with Sunderland University.
During a visit in 2007 Sivam had asked Traidcraft to help them develop products that could
be labelled as suitable for the microwave. Unsure of the best way of doing this, in July 2008,
Traidcraft made contact with the ceramics department of Sunderland University. The team there
were very positive about the product quality, but explained that testing – straight from freezer to
microwave – puts any handmade pottery at risk. So labelling was impossible. But, interested in
Traidcraft and Sivam, they investigated ways to help. By the end of the year, Sunderland had
agreed to provide cover for one of their lecturers for two weeks, and also part fund a student
with overseas experience, to accompany him to Pondicherry. Despite the limitations of torrential
rain, after two weeks of intensive work new techniques, colours and designs were developed.
The help did not end there as a new electric kiln, bringing greater control and efficiency, has
been funded and installed enabling small sample runs to be undertaken. Further visits have
also been made to continue the support.

Around the factory were signs which emphasised the aspects/values of Fairtrade to the
workers. It was good to see these in such a prominent position and know that the key Fairtrade
principles were so openly displayed.

Another of Sipa’s producers which has supplied Traidcraft is “Inner Reflections”. It is owned
and run by Riaz. His primary aim is to give employment for women. His motivation comes from
his own experience, for his mother sacrificed much for her children, and enabled him to train
and get good qualifications. Riaz is really proud to be giving employment to women and he
looks for those who really need the work. ”They are my family he says, without them there is no
success”

Riaz started this venture 8 years ago when he got a loan to buy candle-making equipment for
use by women. He has now moved on to the making of incense sticks produced by fishermen’s
wives in a village outside Pondicherry. He now runs 3 units employing over 50 workers full or
part –time (only 3 males are employed). He has been full of ideas for marketing goods such as
the use of combined sets such as oil burners, candles and incense sticks. He praised the input
of Traidcraft in helping him acquire business skills and the ability to judge the market.
As well as providing good wages Inner Reflections helps the workers with some social support –
school books, medical expenses, maternity leave etc.

During this tour we did not see as much in the way of products for the Traidcraft catalogues
we did on previous tours but we have gained an insight into the way in which Traidcraft has
provided support and training to help the producers.