Make Cotton Sustainable

REPORT / PEOPLE

Fair Trade Changing Lives Of Gujarat Farmers

Organic and Fair Trade premiums are helping farmers change their lives, says Safia from People Tree. She recently visited cotton farmers in Rappa, Gujarat. These farmers are supported by Agrocel  a People Tree’s partner of 10 years.

According to Safia, in 2009-10, the organic premium paid to farmers was £20,000 and the Fair Trade premium was £67,000. Fair Trade premium has not only improved livelihoods in the area, but also supports self help groups of female farmers. According to Ms Bhanuben, Agrocel’s Project Officer, “There are 5 self help groups with 74 members. Each member joins the savings scheme and starts their own bank account, this trains women in financial literacy and helps them save and plan.”

Farmers spoke to Safia about the difficulties they had to face on a daily basis before they got the support from Agrocel. One of the farmers said,“We had to travel for the whole day just to buy basics like sugar and taking our cotton to market to receive a fair price was really hard and weakened our opportunity to negotiate a good price.”

According to farmer Amrut Charda, “We really benefit from the seed programme – seeds are good quality, are GMO free, organic and supplied to us at a fraction of the cost we paid before. Usually they cost 900 rupees and from Agrocel they cost only 30 rupees per kilo.”
Photo Courtesy: People Tree
To read the full story: Visit to Agrocel- Organic Fair Trade Cotton farmers in Gujarat, India