Reflections on the Seed festival
(Robin Murray reminisces about SeedFest 2015 which he visited with his wife Frances. Robin and Frances dug in to scarce personal savings to make the trip to bear witness first hand to what he termed as a precious creation.) I last came to Kelakem1 in September 2008 for the first annual meeting of Liberation Nuts. That […]
Visiting “Elements” and “Fair Trade Alliance Kerala”
Following a trip to cocoa producers, I visited the “Fair Trade Alliance Kerala” (FTAK) in Kerala two weeks ago at – the producers who had delighted me with the wonderful products in the first Crowd-Container-Package. That one can visit the producers of their own food far in the distance is not common. Too often, only […]
Team Liberation meets Thomas, a cashew farmer in Kerala
Our shareholder cashew farming co-operative Fair Trade Alliance Kerala (FTAK) has over 7,000 members. Their small ‘homestead’ farms are scattered around the tropical, rugged Western Ghat mountains, a United Nations World Heritage Site. So it’s not surprising that we meet new farmers every time we go, as well as seeing familiar faces. During his recent […]
Fair Trade Plus Three: Biodiversity, Food Security, and Gender Equality in Kerala, India
Fair Trade Plus Three: Biodiversity, Food Security, and Gender Equality in Kerala, India Fair Trade Plus Three: Biodiversity, Food Security, and Gender Equality in Kerala, India Fair Trade Alliance of Kerala, (FTAK) a 4500-member co-operative of small farmers in southern India, has created an exciting initiative to articulate and put into practice what most fair […]
A year’s progress for the women of Pulpally in Kerala
In April 2012 I visited Wayanad in Kerala and meet the Pulpally women’s group and learnt about FTAK’s ‘Fairtrade plus 3’ policy, in particular to distribute Fairtrade premiums as loans for livelihood development through women’s projects . See https://www.facebook.com/notes/equal-exchange-uk/gender-justice-at-fairtrade%20-alliance-kerala-ftak/10150672014243344 and similar for reports. The ladies were thrilled with their success then and now I wanted […]
Making biodiversity a corner stone
The first pillar of Fair Trade Alliance Kerala’s Fair Trade + 3 is biodiviersity. The aim: that every FTAK’s farm should be like a tropical rainforest boasting a rich, dense, diversity of crops. The Western Ghats area, where many of FTAK’s farmers work, has recently been declared a world heritage sight. This was in recognition of the […]
Fair Trade + 3
Fair Trade + 3 introducing FTAK’s : FAIR TRADE + 3! I recently met up with Tomy Matthew who came over to Edinburgh during Fairtrade Fortnight. Tomy is one of the founders of Fair Trade Alliance Kerala (FTAK) and remains the Promoter of the organisation. At our meeting Tomy let me know about FTAK’s plans […]
Trade not aid or aid through trade?
Trade not aid or aid through trade? This was the challenge from Tomy Matthew, the promoter of Fair Trade Alliance Kerala (FTAK), to a group of visiting Traidcraft campaigners. He put forward that the narrative around Fair Trade, despite an initial acceptance that aid is disempowering, has crept back into the charity ‘help the poor […]
