We call on Federal Minister of Agriculture Alois Rainer to take decisive action to ensure the payment of fair, cost-covering prices along the entire supply chain by all trading partners. Fair prices mean that they cover the costs of sustainable production and thus enable living incomes and investments. The payment of unfair prices must be included in the UTP Directive as an unfair trading practice.
Why is this important?
The consequences of unfair prices are harsh - and they hit the most vulnerable the hardest: many parents who work in cocoa or coffee cultivation, for example, are unable to send their children to school. Instead of learning, children work on plantations to ensure the survival of their families. At the same time, they lack the means to invest in farms or to farm sustainably. Farm labourers receive wages that are not enough to live on.
When prices are unfairly depressed, it affects us all: because if those who produce our food are unable to survive, our own food supply is also jeopardised.
Working together for fair rules and prices
Fair rules and prices safeguard the diversity of agriculture and make it more crisis-proof. This year, the European Unfair Trading Practices Directive (UTP Directive) is being reformed. A broad alliance is calling on the German government to advocate for fair rules along the entire trade chain. Help ensure that agriculture has a future - fair, sustainable and worldwide. This will reduce the risk of supply shortages and insecure supply chains - and safeguard the quality of our food.
