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Balancing the cost of food air miles: Listening to trade and environmental concerns

17 September 2007

Fresh cut flowers in Ghana for export by air to Europe

Trade is fundamental to development. To beat world poverty, it is essential that economic growth is encouraged in the world's poorest countries. They must be able to trade on the global market, exporting their goods freely and getting a fair price for them.

However, exporting goods can mean transporting them by air. When we consider that the reduction of carbon emissions and protection of the environment are also crucial to development, we are presented with a dilemma. Do we, in rich countries, help poor countries to trade their way out of poverty by buying their exports, or do we say no to air-freighting and buy local produce instead?

Banning air-freighting hits poor farmers

This is a question that the UK Trade and Development Minister Gareth Thomas addressed at a debate on 17th September. The debate follows the Soil Association's decision to look into the possibility of withdrawing its organic certificates from air-freighted produce. Soil Association certificates make it clear to consumers that a product has been grown organically; if they were removed from goods transported by air-freight, consumers choosing to buy organic may select another product, one grown locally rather than imported from a developing country.

Female agricultural labourers turn and grade Arabica beans on an organic coffee farm in Ethiopia Image courtesy of Sven Torfinn/Panos Pictures

At the debate, research was launched by the International Trade Centre into the impact for African farmers of a ban on air-freighted organic produce. DFID believes that the Soil Association should not remove certification, because of the harm it could do to farmers in developing countries, and also because it would do little to solve climate change.

With British shoppers spending over £1 million every day on African fruit and vegetables, and supplies of organic African produce growing, a ban could result in the loss of a valuable market and affect many small farmers. Recent estimates suggest that almost a million rural African livelihoods depend at least partly on the fruit and vegetable trade with the UK. Also, studies show that organic farming can be more profitable than conventional methods of production. As organic horticultural exports from the developing world to Europe are calculated to be worth US$100 million a year, it is important that the UK continues to buy these goods and support this trade.

Key facts on trade

Driving six and a half miles to buy your shopping emits more carbon than flying a pack of Kenyan green beans to the UK.
British shoppers spend over £1 million a day on imported fruit and vegetables from Africa and the livelihoods of more than a million farmers and their families depend on this trade.
Air-freighting fruit and vegetables from Africa accounts for less than one-tenth of 1% of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions.
Research from Cranfield University shows that the emissions produced by growing flowers in Kenya and flying them to the UK can be less than a fifth of those grown in heated and lighted greenhouses in Holland.
The organic fruit, vegetable and flower export trade to Europe is worth an approximate US$100 million annually in exports from developing countries.
In 2005, the value of fruit and vegetables air-freighted to the UK from Africa north of South Africa and south of the Sahara was £200 million.

Taking account of the environmental cost

While DFID welcomes the Soil Association's concern about the impact of food production on climate change, the air-freighting of fruit and vegetables counts for only a small proportion (less than 1%) of UK greenhouse gas emissions. There can be no denying that food transport has an environmental and social cost, but most of this (about 85%) comes from UK roads. As Gareth Thomas said at the debate:

"...the distance food has travelled is not a good way to judge whether the food we eat is sustainable. Driving 6.5 miles to buy your shopping emits more carbon than flying a pack of Kenyan green beans to the UK."

The long term effects of climate change - petrified trees in a desert in Egypt Image courtesy of Mark Henley/Panos Pictures

There is a need to compare the social cost of carbon emissions with the benefits that arise from trade. At the same time, tackling climate change is a priority in the fight against world poverty. The only fair option, which considers the livelihoods of those in developing countries as well as the need to protect the environment, is to ensure that the prices of the goods we consume cover the costs of their environmental impact, wherever they are from and however they are produced.

The UK Government must work towards this goal, and is currently leading international efforts to make the price of air transport take account of its highly significant effect on the environment. The Government is also encouraging more efficient distribution within the food and drink sector, and has proposed that food industry trade bodies look into achieving a 20% reduction in the social costs of transporting food in the UK by 2012.

How you can make a difference

In the developed world, we must support the growth of poor countries' economies while reducing the impact of food production and consumption on the environment. DFID welcomes the commitment of the Co-op Group “to reduce carbon but never at the expense of the world’s poorest”.

We can all do our bit to help development by continuing to buy fruit and vegetables imported from Africa, and paying a fair price that reflects the carbon footprint of these imports. And we can consider ways to make our food shopping trips more sustainable, for example by fitting them into fewer visits to supermarkets, farmers markets or local shops. It is important that, as consumers, we are aware of the wider impact of food consumption, from farm to fork.

But, as the Co-op Group have said, we must "ensure that the world's poorest producers are not penalised for what are essentially the sins of world's richest consumers." In Kenya, for example, carbon emissions are 200 kg a head, while in the UK they are almost 50 times that. African economies are currently growing by around 5% or more - in part due to agricultural exports. Agriculture remains the most likely source of economic growth and poverty reduction in most African countries. If Africa is to grow by 7%, and halve poverty, get its children into school and achieve the Millennium Development Goals, it must be free to trade with the rest of the world.

More on trade and the environment

To find out more about how DFID is combating world poverty by promoting trade and tackling climate change, please follow these links: