BONN, GERMANY – Growth in cocoa and sugar helped Fairtrade International achieve increases of 10% in the number of producer organizations and 13% in the number of farmers and workers in the system between 2010 and 2011, according to the non-profit organization’s report “Monitoring the scope and benefits of fairtrade 2012.” Fairtrade premium received by smallholder cocoa farmers rose 89%. Total farmers producing Fairtrade sugar grew to 37,200 from 17,600.
By the end of 2011, the total number of small-scale farmers in the Fairtrade systems topped 1 million, increasing to 1,070,800 from 936,000, with a 26% increase in sales revenue on Fairtrade terms. Total Fairtrade producer organizations worldwide increased to 991 at the end of 2011 from 905 at the end of 2010. Total countries with Fairtrade certified producer organizations increased to 66 as Guyana, Lebanon and Uzbekistan joined the list.