The market to the rescue of the poor

Check this


"The MoU was signed by Investbank CEO, Mr. Muntaser Dawwas, and the Director General of RSCN, Mr. Yehya Khaled in the presence of Mr. Bisher Jardaneh, Investbank Chairman and His Excellency Mr. Khaled Irani, Chairman of RSCN's Board of Directors and additional representatives attended the event.

According to the MoU, the project will help small local farmers in Ajloun to grow organic produce as a new form of agriculture that will enable them to earn a better living, while protecting the environment and the surrounding forests. Organic farming specialists will work with the farmers to guide the process and ensure that the program is scientifically planned and developed, starting from the materials and skills required to grow organic crops and ending with the development of officially recognized certification for the crops being produced."
http://www.ameinfo.com/292345.html


But check this too

"Brown explains that fair trade networks were created as "market-based initiatives that seek to leverage working conditions for farm workers." These networks wanted to move beyond organic food products (which simply look at the agricultural inputs in the soil) by engaging with social justice practices and addressing labor conditions. But the reality is that fair trade farms, especially those that supply transnational corporations, are pressured by the market to cut corners in other ways in order to maintain the fair trade premium: by hiring contract labor sources who are not bound by fair trade contracts or by expanding production of a single profitable crop, thereby undermining the ecological sustainability of the farm. Among other things, fair trade networks shift the original conversation about labor conditions to one about profits through price premiums."

http://www.foodfirst.org/en/node/3811

(Thanks Anne)