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Judith’s Story – The story of a grower of the world’s first Fairtrade peanuts
Judith says: “I am very proud to have grown some of the groundnuts which have become the world’s first Fairtrade salted peanuts.” “In Mkanda where I live most farmers live below the poverty line. They earn below $1 per day and do not have enough food to last them the whole year. The guaranteed fair price which comes with Fairtrade is important as we will make a profit when we sell our nuts and we can use the money to lift up our lives.” “I start work at 3.30am every morning to work in my garden where I grow maize for my family. Before seven I cook porridge for my daughter who is 13 and two orphans who I also look after who are a girl of 14 and a boy of 17. I also look after my mum who is 66.” “I work very hard. Last year I grew more than four metric tonnes of groundnuts – enough to make 14,000 jars of peanut butter. We used to live in a mud house but I have been able to build my family a brick house with concrete foundations and a tin roof.” “When I was a teenager, I became pregnant and the father of my daughter didn’t stay with me. We lived in poverty and lacked basic necessities which made me very miserable. When I was young it was difficult to get a school uniform, note books and pencils. I wanted things to be different for my daughter. I thought the only way we would have food would be if I became a farmer. “ “I went over the border to Zambia and was hired to work on a farm and was given some groundnut seed as my pay. I planted it at home. When the groundnuts grew I sold them but the vendors who bought them used to bring tampered scales in order to steal. They used to buy unshelled groundnuts using a 50kg sack for measurement, but they used to boil it first in order to enlarge it so that it carried more groundnuts than the 50kg it was meant to hold. They always paid low prices. Smallholder farmers were not able to borrow money or to invest in good quality seed.” “Then I heard about NASFAM – the National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi – an organisation which represents farmers all over Malawi, helping find markets for farmers organised into groups. I travelled to see them and told them about our difficulties. NASFAM helped the Mchinji Association with production and training and a lot of things have improved in our lives. NASFAM helped establish MASFA and the farmers in Mchinji now partly own the National Association along with similar organisations around Malawi. NASFAM believes that “The Fututre Belongs to the Organised” “In 2002 when I had been a farmer for three years I was voted chair of the Mchinji Association. Some farmers thought because I was young I wouldn’t be able to handle responsibilities but I have had leadership training from NASFAM and have won the confidence of everyone in the Association. We discuss issues and are able to work together.” “One of the great things about Fairtrade is the Fairtrade premium – the money which comes directly to us to spend on our community. In the future we will use the premium to start a clinic which will mean health facilities are nearer for families. We also need a guardian shelter at the hospital: somewhere for the sick and their carers / relations to stay and make meals while they wait for a chance to be seen to at the clinic. If we had more space and less congestion at guardian shelters airborne diseases may be reduced and people will have more time to concentrate on farming.” “If, through Fairtrade, we can reduce the prevalence of diseases because of better health education and an improved guardian shelter, farmers will have more time to give to their farms. We may earn extra money which we can invest in the areas we need most, which we can spend and improve our lives.” |
Judith Harry is 33 and the single mother of a teenage girl. She is a peanut farmer in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world. These peanuts, which carry the FAIRTRADE Mark, are being sold in Co-op stores across the UK since March. They have been brought to the UK by leading Fairtrade organisation Twin Trading.