Fairtrade Together: Covid-19 Briefing

Fairtrade is gathering updates from around the world about how COVID-19 is affecting producer organizations, family farmers, and workers.

The loss of livelihoods and risk of unemployment for farmers and workers is deepening throughout the Global South. Farmers and workers are already among the world’s poorest people, living in communities with weak or non-existent safety nets. This crisis is showing the critical role of businesses and retailers in supporting food security and ensuring the long term resilience of our supply chains.

Transportation challenges are at the forefront. There are growing reports of the impact of movement restrictions on the transport and export of goods, including reported shortages in packaging, transport drivers, market/auction closures and shipping / freight delays, shortage of shipping containers and challenges securing cargo flights. In some countries, these challenges are hitting producers already at the farm level, where they seek to process and get their products to market or to receive needed items such as fertilizer, seeds, or even food supplies.

Although the outlook for farmers, workers, and businesses continues to evolve, Fairtrade believes that it is crucial to take action now to ensure sustainable livelihoods and food supply chains. Governments, retailers, traders and consumers need to work together to protect jobs and livelihoods during this period and beyond.