Originally, this non-governmental organisation was formed to work on development aid. “We say our organisation stands on two legs: one relates us to poor countries by selling fair trade products, and the other is about consumers’ relations in Catalunya,” explained Alfredo Grafulla, responsible for consumers’ groups in XCS.
At the beginning, their strongest efforts related to that first leg until they realised it was also indispensable to change the way producers connect to customers in the northern hemisphere. “It works exactly like a funnel. Above, there are farmers growing their vegetables. Below, there are citizens who want to buy and eat these products. Their link are distributors, controlling prices and amounts, making business on behalf of others,” said Grafulla.
“XCS’s strategy is to create a direct relation between the top and the bottom of that funnel. First of all, we want to consume reliable food. We do not look for the cheapest, but for the best quality products that adhere to environmental and social criteria.”
In order to do that, XCS buys goods from producers they trust and know. For instance, Feixa Verda supplies fruit, vegetables and eggs. It is an ecologic cooperative with 12 hectares spread between Dosrius, Argentona, Mataró and Sant Andreu de Llavaneras. Bread comes from Fleca Tascó, a cooperative created in 1985 that produces natural baked goods. The packed and canned products XCS buys are all produced under fair trade agreements.
“We believe in transparency, which means agreeing on prices with cooperatives, adding an extra 30 percent to ensure feasibility to our project, and publishing them on our website,” explained Grafulla. “This extra percentage is to pay salaries of people working professionally in XCS and fuel for the van we use to pick up products. Ours are not the cheapest prices in market, but they are the fairest ones. Every single cent goes to the producer without any international firm acting as middleman.”
Latest Comments
Something I've been looking for in BCN
Posted by Maija April 08, 2010 22:46:40