SUPERMARKET POWER
Oxfam warns farmers and workers bear the brunt of cheap food
Paris — Supermarkets in the West are using their purchasing power to force suppliers to cut their prices, contributing to exploitation and even forced labour of millions of farmers worldwide, a global charity said on Thursday. "Millions of women and men who produce our food are trapped in poverty and face brutal working conditions, despite billion-dollar profits in the food industry," Oxfam International said as it released a report titled Ripe for Change. "From forced labour aboard fishing vessels in Southeast Asia, to poverty wages on Indian tea plantations and hunger faced by workers on South African grape farms, human and labour rights abuses are all too common in food supply chains," the report said. In surveys conducted in five countries in 2017, Oxfam said it documented what it called "unfair trading practices" by supermarket giants, such as setting prices below the cost of sustainable production. They were also unwilling to raise prices in order to take into account increase...
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