Fair trade

Fair trade products offer a higher price to developing world producers of commodity crops than what is available to them on the world market. Producers are encouraged to invest the extra money they earn in health, housing or educational programmes, usually on a cooperative basis.

Fair trade's traditional strengths have been in coffee, tea, sugar and chocolate, but a wide range of fair trade products are now available, including clothing and handicrafts.

Jose cuts cacao pods from the tree Photo: USAID_images on Flickr, shared under CC BY-NC 2.0 license