The Make Trade Fair campaign is a growing international movement, which fights for producers in poor countries to get a fair deal. However, Fair Trade alone cannot address the crisis faced by millions of small-scale farmers and producers whose livelihoods are threatened by low commodity prices and unfair competition from rich countries. This can only be achieved by changing the unfair rules of world trade and certain policy reforms in the domestic level.

Read how Kamal Nath got a very big postbag
and
Lucky Ali signed up to the campaign

India's Trade Innings

Approximately 65 per cent of India's population is dependant on farming but the rigged rules of trade have driven many Indian farmers to either killing themselves or taking up meagre jobs and giving up on farming completely. This is a tragic trend that needs to stop.

To this end, a huge petition with over five million signatures from all over India was presented to India's Minister of Commerce, Mr. Kamal Nath, just before the World Trade Organization (WTO) Hong Kong Ministerial, December 2005. The petition asked the Indian government to influence decision-makers at the WTO to make trade fair for millions of farmers in India who are badly affected by post-liberalization policies, and for millions more people who depend on agriculture worldwide.

"Make Trade Fair is not anti-liberalization but about the Power to Decide the pace and scale, 'the when, if and how' to liberalize. For developing countries this is their sovereign right." Oxfam's Dr Samar Verma commented.

Nath acknowledged that the interest of small and marginal farmers is of prime interest to the country and that under no circumstances will be compromised.

Join the Make Trade Fair campaign.

Lucky Loves Aloo

Braving the winter chill, Lucky Ali arrived and immediately the media wanted his sound byte. He is also a farmer and understands how difficult it is to find a good market for his produce. "The thing I like best about visiting Delhi is to eat aloo tikki but I would hate it if the potatoes were imported from the United States," he added.

When Lucky started singing the crowd went berserk, around 10,000 people had crammed into the small Hamsadhwani Theatre, New Delhi, to get an earful of their soulful hero. After two hours of great music the fans would not let him go, he obliged the audience with one more song. Lucky talked about the Make Trade Fair campaign and explained why he supported it before finishing with a grand finale saw Lucky ending an awesome evening by signing up to the Make Trade Fair petition.

Sing up or sign up - It's your turn to make a Big Noise now!

Visit the website. Get others to go there too. Start a chain reaction of positive action. Because a few clicks on a keyboard will sound like a huge wake-up call to the richer nations. And to that there's only one answer they can give: Make Trade Fair
THAT'S FAIR!