| Fair Trade Village Abuan, Kintamani, Bali |
Fair Trade Village in Bali - This idea comes from our daily experience; there are so many people who come to visit us, and they want to know what fair trade is and how fair trade principles are being implemented within a tangible practice in Bali. It is difficult to demonstrate this without showing the real daily activities. In response to this, we decided to initiate the program “Fair Trade Village” in Abuan. This village is located at the bottom of Batur Mountain Kintamani, Bangli. From Denpasar it is a one and a half hour drive to the village. It is a pleasant village with cooler weather but with warm and friendly residents. The inhabitants are mainly farmers or talented craftspeople. They are good at making smaller products such as wooden cats, frogs, elephants and other various animals. They use wood from fast growing trees, which are planted in the backyards of their own homes.
For those of you who want to see how Mitra Bali is implementing the fair trade principles you are welcome to visit our “Fair Trade Village.” There you can see our blalu plantation as well as meet the crafts people, who are working in safe and healthy workshops and with sustainable orders from Mitra Bali.
In connection with fair trade, Mitra Bali is committed to giving fair payment to producers. Payment is our utmost priority, because without this fair payment it is impossible for us to consider ourselves a fair trade organization. For every order, Mitra Bali provides a 50% deposit for the producers who are already established and 60% for the producers who are not yet well developed. The remainder of the payment for the order is paid a week after delivery to the Mitra Bali warehouse. The sales price is agreed on together, beginning with an open dialogue with the producers. For wood products, Mitra Bali tries to use wood from fast-growing sources, better known locally as blalu or albesia falcata. Mitra Bali is also planting 1000 blalu trees over 90 acres of land in the village of Abuan, Kintamani, Bangli. This land is owned by a handicraft producer named Ibu Nengah Tiar (45 years old). The land deed was pawned to meet expenses for religious rituals, and Ibu Tiar could not afford to reclaim it. To prevent the land from being sold, Mitra Bali rented Ibu Tiar’s land for 10 years at a price of five million rupiah (Rp5.000.000) (420 Euro), and now this land has been planted with 1000 blalu trees. The income from the trees is split between Ibu Tiar (70%) and Mitra Bali (30%), so that Ibu Tiar has a sustainable income. Mitra Bali has permitted Ibu Tiar to plant cassava and sweet potato plants under the blalu trees and her family is given a stipend of Rp 300.000 per month for tending the blalu trees. Mitra Bali is working to create this village of Abuan into an entirely “Fair Trade Village.” This means that this village can truly become a visible realization of fair trade practices. As well as the sustainable blalu plantation,
Mitra Bali provides the group of skilled local craft producers with workshops that are safe and healthy, that involve no child labor, and with sustainable orders from Mitra Bali.
Just for your information : Now our Blalu plantation is growing well and look very much bigger after 2 years.[mitra bali foundation]
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