Sai Ashu Sikri (Unlicensed) Amrita Das (Unlicensed) Ravi Shankar Sharma (Unlicensed) Gautam Mandewalker Vineet Singh
SSRDP FPOs -Fair Trade licence
Rudragiri FPC-Coffee and Pepper
2. H Cap- Coffee and Pepper
3. Kodagu Naturals-Coffee and Pepper
4. Hirehadlu FPC-Coffee and Pepper
These FPOs are 6 months to 1 year old
The resource person is an FPC president / Farmer of Hirehadlu FPC and he has been with fair trade for the last 6 to 7 years. Last year the FPC has supplied 6 containers to the fair-trade traders which helped them to earn Rs 6 lakh social premium per container. This FPC has about 550 shareholders and out of them 102 shareholders have fair trade license and 68 farmers give 100% of the produce to fair trade traders/ exporters.
This FPC has set up a pulping unit (4 tons per hour capacity) which is worth 75 lakhs including the value of the land. Farmers have contributed Rs 8 lakh to set up this pulping unit. (besides share capital)
Standards of Fairtrade-
Fairtrade suggests a set of practices to follow and recommends standards to follow. These are to be documented by the farmers. (for ex, a voucher for the purchase of fertilizer, payment voucher for the labourer etc). These are audited every year. Documentation of practices is crucial to maintain
Each member should be aware of the contract with fair trade. ( this FPC shares printed circulars through the post and sends WhatsApp messages to each of the members).
Whether to apply for fair trade or not should be decided by the general body and not in a board meeting.
51% of the farmers should be small farmers (less than 2 hectares)
Should be registered bodies and 50% of them must be women. (some exceptions in the initial years of trading)
The land record (RTC)+Geo coordinates + a rough sketch of the land is mandatory
Labour should be paid minimum wages and all precautionary measures to be taken for the health of the labor.
Deviations in the practices should be informed to fair trade.
A minimum of 25 members are needed to apply for the fair trade.
9. For the group that has members between 50 to 150 the certification fees are 2.5 lakhs, Up to 250 members 3 lakhs. With more farmers, per member fee gets reduced. This is annual fees.
10 . Organic certification helps in realizing 30% more premium but is not mandatory for the fairtrade
10. FPC gets a 20% social premium and the general body should decide on how to utilize this premium. And any non-conformity
11. Each FPO would get Fairtrade login. Usually, it takes 6 months from the time of application to initiate transactions.
12. Pre-finance options are available
13. Traders/exporters do quality parameters check.
14. Additional 300 Euros per group to get a certificate for an additional crop.
15. TAFE has MoU with SFAC to create a platform for renting out agri equipment to the members through a call center. Equipment and farmers are assigned to the concerned CEOs. Equipments are either FPC property or equipment owned by farmers who want to optimize their use and earn additional income.
16. NABARD is promoting the Sat2Farm app for customized advisories.
Critical points that FPC finds difficult to ensure
Important to know the volume of clean Coffee
Written assurance from the members for the supply.
Each member knows FT standards
Each member knows how the social premium and it is spent
Document expenses.
Labour standards are followed.
For Funding platform:
-Many options for shared assets creation for value addition.
-Provide support for certification for a couple of years. ( could be partial) and ensure digitize the data from the farmers to comply with certification.
-Enable FPCs to avail Govt schemes.