Dunedin named fair trade city

If 'Fair-Trade' is on-the-level and growers (and their labourers) in developing countries genuinely benefit, then I'd be for it. Given that the 'growing' takes place in some of the most corrupt parts of the planet, gives me cause for some unease. Does anyone recall the 'whale hysteria' of the 1970's and 80's? I once attended a pilot-whale stranding on the far side of Otago Peninsula, and some of the rhetoric I heard on that occasion truly staggered me. For instance, 'These lovely creatures are really our intellectual superiors' and so-on, which sort-of begged the question as to why a whole pod of twenty or so of them, lay gasping or expiring on Victory Beach, while we 'thickos' attended to their every need,.
There seems to be some aberration of the human makeup which equates the 'warm-and-fuzzies' which come from extending the hand-of-friendship to our less fortunate brethren, with having earned a credit-balance of brownie-points which might come in handy in the future. Truth to tell, and I've met a lot of such 'altruistic' people in my time, I don't think many of them give a stuff about the welfare of such people. I admire those few who do, but have a healthy skepticism about the motives of an overwhelming majority. And, if the price of the single cup of percolated coffee I am able to afford, a day, (while coasting along for most of the time on 'instant'), disappears finally out-of-reach altogether, I, for one, will be more than a little pissed-off.
There are people in our own communities whose needs are quite urgent and who could do with a hand-up in life; let's address their needs first-up, before we get too misty-eyed about the plights of others.

Congratulations to Dunedin and to everyone who worked so hard to make this happen. Fair trade is a system that offers farmers & workers in developing countries a fair price for their produce, helps cut out the middlemen by encouraging direct trade and provides a Fairtrade premium that goes towards social and community development. It's fantastic to see Kiwis getting behind this and showing their support for fairer trade and a better deal for farmers in the developing world.

There is significant controversy about the Fair Trade organisation. There seems to be a money-go-round where the high prices of goods sold in FairTrade shops is passed on to the favoured producers. However, while the selected producers receive above average prices, the FairTrade organisation takes a big chunk of that in the form of annual fees. The organisation uses that money to promote itself to cities like Dunedin. I don't see what is fair about it, where the one or two selected growers among many others in a region end up with higher prices and higher sales volume. Gains of the chosen few are probably at the expense of the other growers who are poor enough already. Wikipedia has more details of the Fair Trade controversy. My guess is that the system is overall harmful to poor countries/regions, but it is financially good for the FairTrade organization and helps Dunedin customers and DCC Councillors feel good about their decisions.

My understanding is that 'fair trade' involves agreements to ensure that producers receive a fair payment for their goods and is especially intended to reduce the exploitation of producers in developing countries. Does it? I am currently living in Southeast Asia where, given the arrays of middlemen (including retailers) who station themselves along the trading pathways, the term, fair trade, has become something of an oxymoron.

Well done Dunedin, let's keep this commitment up. And well done to the Dunedin Trade Aid store who have faithfully been selling fair trade products for years.