Whatever the occasion, and where better than at the Electric Picnic? – You can say it with Fairtrade Roses! The Electric Picnic is a Fairtrade Festival and this year Aldi Ireland, JZ Flowers and Fairtrade Ireland are happy to give away 6,000 Fairtrade roses to festival goers.

Fairtrade works with flower workers in countries including Kenya, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Ecuador and Uganda.

Across the world, more than 73,000 people are involved in growing, harvesting, packing and caring for Fairtrade flowers.

What’s different about Fairtrade Roses and Flowers?

Fairtrade flowers are traceable back to the original farm. Fairtrade-certified farms must ensure safety and working conditions for their employees.

These farms receive a Fairtrade Premium of 10% for every stem sold, which allows workers to invest in healthcare, education and other social benefits.

Fairtrade flowers workers in East Africa experience higher wages, better working conditions, and greater engagement in workers’ rights issues and gender equity than their non-Fairtrade certified counterparts, a new report released today has revealed.

A study, titled Impact of Fairtrade on flower workers and market access of flower farms in East Africa and conducted by Social Policy and Development Consulting Limited, examines 11 producer organisations across Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia, including nine Fairtrade certified, and two non-Fairtrade, and builds off the inputs of more than 650 workers via survey and focus groups, as well as interviews with farm managers, Fairtrade staff, and other flower industry stakeholders.

Through their analysis, the researchers found that Fairtrade has a ‘positive’ economic impact on flower workers with 69 percent of the workers on East African Fairtrade certified farms reporting higher wages compared to their counterparts on non-Fairtrade certified farms. Indeed, the study indicates that the percentage of Fairtrade farm workers falling into the relatively higher wage brackets was more than twice as high at Fairtrade farms compared to non-Fairtrade farms.

In addition to boosted wages, the study’s results note that nearly nine out of ten workers at Fairtrade certified flower farms reported that they or their household members have individually benefited from Fairtrade Premium funds with the most popular uses of the Premium going to education bursaries; home improvement items; and community projects such as water, health and school infrastructure. The Fairtrade Premium, a unique tool available to Fairtrade-certified farmers, is an additional sum of money that farmers and workers invest in projects they choose. The report adds that the Fairtrade Premium appears to both “enable empowerment and reduce financial pressure” among the flower workers surveyed. READ THE FULL SURVEY HERE

Herburg Roses

Herburg Roses PLC is located in Ziway, Ethiopia. It employs 1,300 permanent workers, of which 75% are female, to harvest roses year round. Each year, Herburg produces more than 90 million roses.

Supporting workers to save for the future.

ALDI began working with Herburg Roses in 2011 and since then, has invested heavily into the farm to directly give back to the communities that supply our flowers.  This included the opening of a food shop in 2015 which enables workers to purchase essential food items at a discounted price. Under this project, workers receive maize flour, lentils, shiro and pepper at 40% less than the market price.

Workers are able to use the money they save on the food towards other expenses, such as school fees, or to build up a saving spot to ensure they are able to cover any unexpected expenses and respond to emergencies. Premium also contributes to the local Sher school and Sher Hospital which provides education and healthcare services to the workers on the flower farms in Ziway, and to the wider community.

Here in Ireland you can purchase Fairtrade Roses from Aldi, distributed by JZ Flowers, JZ Flowers is a family-business that has grown from a small importer into a pioneering producer of floral bouquets with well-established operations in Ireland, the UK and USA. ‘The beautiful fresh flowers that we deliver, come from a commitment to design, innovation, and excellent quality’ JZ Roses are supplied by the lovely flower growers in Herburg, Ziway, Ethiopia.

ALDI in Ireland, UK and Germany have signed a combined new four-year sole supplier contract with long-standing partner JZ Flowers. The new deal, worth c.£400 million, will see JZ Flowers supply 200 million bunches of cut flowers to ALDI stores across Ireland and the UK during the contract period.

This year we will be promoting Roses at the Electric Picnic why not drop over and pick up a stem!