Fair Trade guarantees farmers a fair wage for their harvest. Why is it needed? Many small coffee farmers receive prices for their coffee that are less than the costs of production, forcing them into a cycle of poverty and debt. With little or no income between harvest months, farmers are usually forced to sell their next crop in advance to exploitative middlemen, who pay far below the harvest's value. The farmer's situation is exacerbated by the fact that the world market price is extremely volatile, frequently experiencing steep price drops to the farmers when overproduction causes world coffee surpluses. With few other options for income, such drastic price drops cause many coffee farmers to lose their farms and become hopelessly in debt.

Fair Trade encourages family farmers in developing countries to get organized. Through direct, equitable trade, farmers can double and even triple their net incomes from their coffee, which, for most, means the difference between losing the farm versus staying on the land, improving family health, keeping their kids in school, and reinvesting in the quality of their coffee and their farms. At its core, Fair Trade is a business-based approach to the issue of Third World poverty alleviation and grassroots empowerment.

CIGRAH is proud to be working with Honduran cooperatives that are certified to market coffee under Fair Trade terms. If you are interested in Honduran Fair Trade Coffees, please call us at (504) 556-5059 or send us a message through our Contact Us page.