The Fairtrade Premium

Reading time: 10 minutes

What is the Fairtrade premium?
Fairtrade Premium is a price paid by flower importers on top of the Fairtrade flower price – an additional sum of money that farmers and workers invest in projects they choose. The price of the flowers is paid to the grower while the premium is transferred directly to the Fairtrade flower workers.

Often the Fairtrade premium is invested in community projects such as education, health care and home improvements that directly benefit the workers and their communities. An example of Fairtrade premium use is the purchase of bicycles at Aurum Roses Ltd in Uganda, to ease workers’ commute to and from work and to run their daily errands.

How does the premium get to the Flower Workers?
While the price of the flowers is paid to the grower, the premium is transferred directly to the workers through a Fairtrade Premium Committee (FPC) that exists on all Fairtrade certified flower farms.
The FPC consists of a delegation of worker representatives from the flower farms. The FPC are elected in a democratic process by the flower farm workers, and they decide which projects the Premium will be spent on through consensus.
On flower farms, the Fairtrade Premium is often used on projects that directly benefit the workers and their families, such as education and health care that as well as on smaller projects such as food shops for basic food supplies and improving housing conditions.

FPC Committee in Kenya

By purchasing Fairtrade flowers and plants, you directly contribute to the better livelihoods of Fairtrade flower and plant farm workers. Are you curious to see the other ways in which the premium is spent? Read more about this here.

Read more about the Fairtrade premium on the Fairtrade website.

See this report to check out some recent projects where the Fairtrade premium has been used at flower farms.