Fair Flowers Fair Plants -vs- ‘Fairtrade’

Click here to read our interview with Regina Dinkla, Project Manager, FFP

Definition of Fairtrade
In principal Fairtrade means: “trade with products produced in a fair (environmentally and socially = sustainable) way and where the producer receives a fair price”.

In practice you can distinguish different kinds of Fairtrade:

Trade with “fair products” from third world countries, coming from small farmers by means of a label to realize and guarantee a better and fair price for the small farmers (This is the original Max Havelaar concept). No premium system is related to this fairtrade system. In practice mostly cooperatives of producers are the suppliers. The requirements for the producers are low and concerns mainly social requirements. The work is done on a non profit base. Participants pay a membership fee.
Trade with “fair products” from third world countries but with a premium system. In this system the producer gets back a certain percentage of his selling price, which he has to spend on facilities and services for the employees. This system knows various versions, but for flowers this system is the most applied system in the flower trade. Max Havelaar and most of the FLO organizations (commercial name is Fairtrade) use this system. A requirement for growers to participate is an ICC (International Code of Conduct) certification. This certification is mainly focused on social aspects but also some environmental demands are involved (mainly the use of pesticides and care for the natural surrounding of the farm). Participation is not open to everybody who is certified. Primarily bigger farms are selected. As far as known these are all commercial organizations with a profit motive (also Max Havelaar). The organization is financed by a part (around 50%) of the premium.
Trade with “fair products” from third world countries and also developed countries without a premium system. For instance as FLP is operating. Requirement for participating is an ICC certification. In practice 99% of the products come from third world countries. Organizations are financed by membership fees and governmental subsidies.
Trade with “fair products” from third countries as well as from the developed world without a premium system . FFP falls in this category. Locally also smaller initiatives exist. These products need as well an environmental as a social certification. The social certification is ICC and the environmental certification is MPS-A or equal. These systems are open to everybody who fulfills the requirements.

What is fair?
All these systems are Fairtrade. However, actually none of them comply with the definition of Fairtrade as mentioned in the beginning. System 1 in principal satisfies almost the definition of Fairtrade, but is not implemented in the flower trade. Most of the systems concern products from third world countries.

The question is of course what is fair? Is it fair to exclude farms that satisfy the requirements? In Kenya only 10 of the 160 farms are selected for participation to Max Havelaar. The 150 farms which are not allowed to participate, not only don’t receive the premium but also loose access to very important markets as e.g. Switzerland, UK and Sweden. Is that fair?
A known fact is that a very respected and social company in Morocco supplied the Coop in Switzerland for many years. Coop told them they only wanted to sell MH products, so he applied for participation in the MH system. The answer was no, not possible, because Morocco wasn’t a third world country. End of 15 years supplying Coop. Is that fair?

Dividing the world in a third world and developed world in this system suggests that in the developed world the products are produced in a sustainable way. We all know that especially in the developed world we also have a long way to go unfortunately.
Regarding the differences and similarities between FFP and Max Havelaar/FairTrade the following overview can make it clear:

Fair Flowers Fair Plants (FFP)

Max Havelaar / Fairtrade

Non-Profit Organisation
Products of the Whole World
Participation free for everybody who fulfills requirements
No premium system
Market Prices
Flowers & Plants
Compulsory participation through the whole trade chain
Requirements for tracing through the chain
Supported by Global Horticultural Industry, International Trade Unions and Environmental and Human Rights NGOs
Requirements of Environmental and Social Certification

Profit Organisation
Products of Third World Countries
Particpation only for selected farms. Others which also fulfill requirements are excluded.
Premium System
Market price increased by 15%-20% caused by premium
Only Flowers
Requirements for participating¹
Requirements for participants²
Commercial organisations supported by Local/National NGOs³
Only Social Certification

^1.^{The demands in the chain almost were not controlled in the past. In MH the main point was the control of the growers A lot of messing up took place. Swiss roses were sold as MH in the shop. Almost 2 years ago MH therefore was attacked in France and Switzerland. A lot of negative publicity. As heard via several participants, MH now intensified the control.}
^{2. The demands in FFP are higher, more specified and transparent and control is a part of the system. Like mentioned under (1) MH is/was not strictly checking.}^{3. MH Netherlands and MH Switzerland are different organizations. They operate as legal body as a foundation. Initiators are local NGO’s. They profile their selves as a non-profit organization, but in practice they are real commercial companies, so called idealistic profit organizations. It got known that in 2004 MH had a profit of 2.400.000 Swiss francs. This is logic as 8-10% of the turnover goes to the MH organization.}