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The Fairtrade Idea
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Magrabi
Agriculture is one of the leading agriculture companies in Egypt. It owns about
9000 acres that are divided into six farms. The company is located in the
desert area of Noubaria which is about 1.5 hours away from Cairo and about 1
hour away from Alexandria. Even though one might consider this a strategic
place, transportation from and to these two major cities is an uneasy task.
The company employs 3000 permanent employees and about 3000 casual/ seasonal
workers. As it is the case in any third world country, people in Egypt suffer
from poverty, literacy, and illness. Magrabi Agriculture, however, believes in
its workers and employees as they are the most important asset for any
organization. The company understands that caring for the people will result in
loyalty, better production and high yields. Therefore, the company started
assisting its workers and employeesby establishing a health care clinic, day
care center, and a social/sports club. Even though these changes made workers
happy, Magrabi was still seeking more improvements to elevate the life of its
workers. As a part of its corporate social responsibility for the workers
serving in Magrabi agriculture, neighboring area families and to contribute to
our country’s development and welfare, Magrabi Agriculture started working
to have Fairtrade certified products to use the incoming premium for
workers’ benefits.
Fairtrade asks for extra payment over the price of its certified products to
develop and improve workers’ conditions and their families socially and
economically. That is called Fairtrade Premium which is money on top of the
price agreed on for the product; it is an extra payment. It should not be
included in price negotiations. The Premium is not to be given out directly to
individual workers in cash or its equivalent. The Premium can be used to find
projects such as schools, training and recreational facilities. Therefore, with
the aim of managing and distributing Fairtrade Premium among Magrabi
Agriculturist's workers & their communities, Magrabi Agriculture encouraged
its workers to establish MAFA Joint Body (i.e. a committee elected only by
workers) to decide on the projects that will conducted using the Fairtrade
premium in 2004. The premium will be used for projects that are sustainable,
environmental friendly and gender sensitive. |
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