Solidarity with the South through Fair Trade

1.      The Beginning of Nepali Bazaro

It was in 1993 that Ms. Haruyo Tsuchiya started Nepali Bazaro. The office was her home and she dealt single-handedly with sales, development and production cooperating with Nepali producers. Accounting, order and customer management were handled by her partner, Kanji Ushikubo, between his other jobs.

Everything started from a chance Tsuchiya had to talk with one Nepali woman. She learned that in Nepal, the mortality rate of children under 5 years old was extremely high, as people were too poor to be nourished and easily died from a mere cold. The story was no different from what she had heard more than 10 years earlier from Noboru Iwamura, a medical volunteer known as “Nepal’s Red Beard” who had visited her junior high school to give a speech. First she decided to set up a civil organization aiming to provide support for education in Nepal. But as she got more involved and actually visited Nepal, she found that there was more to the problem than just education. The government was trying to build schools and the tuition was free, but for many children going to school was not easy because school supplies were too expensive to afford, they had siblings to take care of at home, or they were sent out to apprenticeships. Tsuchiya felt that she needed to tackle the underlying poverty itself, and started by providing jobs for poor people through the establishment of Nepali Bazaro.

In the beginning, no one was on her side. She had no experience in launching a business venture or in trading, and what was worse, Nepal was a small and isolated country. People said that trading with Nepal could never make a business, and she would not stay in business for even a year. Well, 15 years have passed, and her business is still growing.

She says, “If you have an idea, you should give it a try. It’s better than not doing anything and regretting it. Just voice it out, and as long as it is not for your self-interest, people will come to support you however they can. Without such support, I would not be able to go on.”

During the first year, with sweaters and tea leaves as her only products, total sales exceeded \1,400,000. She started to sell coffee in 1994. In one village, a young man started to produce coffee, but had no market for it. He was criticized by people who tried to cut down the coffee trees. Tsuchiya learned about the situation by chance and decided to import the coffee to Japan.

However, the price of coffee was much lower than products such as handmade sweaters. A bag of coffee brought in 750 yen, meaning less than 15,000 yen for a case of 20 bags. Tsuchiya went around from place to place in Japan with a car loaded with coffee, but monthly sales were low. Until the coffee sales started to grow, she was financially supported by a partner.

Within ten years of the launch of the business, the sales of coffee and handicrafts reached 100 million yen, and they are now approaching 300 million. Currently she has 23 employees including part-timers, and plans to grow the business further next year.

2.      Creating real solidarity after 15 years of trial and error

“I really like the term “solidarity economy,” as I always feel its importance. Yet, words are one thing, and action is another. It took 10 years for the two parties to come to respect and trust one another.”

At first, she had only a few employees, and they had difficulties communicating with Nepali producers especially when giving negative feedback.

“For example, when we made comments about the lengths of sweaters being of different lengths, they told us that humans are not symmetric anyway. It was hard to make ourselves understood. We had conflicts, but I tried to understand what they felt by speaking to them in Nepali, and we came to be like a family in the end. The interesting point is that as our relationship improved, so did the quality of their products. ”

Nepali Bazaro has supported many groups of producers in Nepal during the past 15 years, such as Kanchanjangha tea estate, Gulmi Cooperative Nepali, Spicy Home Spices, Mahaguti, Manushi and Cotton Crafts, Young Wow Craft, and Wool Garden.

・Kanchanjangha tea estate: scholarship system and beef project

Kanchanjangha tea estate was established by a small group of farmers. Some had their own lands, but many were people who had been internally displaced from their hometowns. In Nepal, a civil war was going on for 10 years until last November, when peace accords were signed, and the society was chaotic, especially in poor areas where there were many Maoists. Many people lost their houses and spouses, and fled to live in the estate where the cooperative was located.

The cooperative supplied shacks and jobs to people, but schooling children was not easy. In response, Nepali Bazaro launched a scholarship funded by an annual charity concert by Yokohama high school students. Seven years have passed, and currently 170 children of the estate are studying in school. The scholarship system will come to an end in three years.

To replace the scholarship system, Tsuchiya launched the “beef project.” Under this system, cows in the estate are lent to farmers, who pay rent to produce milk and cow manure. Next to come is the “sheep project”. In Nepal, handmade sweaters and handicrafts are leading export products, but raw materials are imported from overseas and wools are made in New Zealand. Nepal’s share of the profits from such products is limited and quality control is not easy. Breeding sheep in Nepal is seen as a potential quick source of profits, as they can give birth to 4 to 5 babies a year. If the breeding works, Nepali organic wool will be able to be used to make sweaters, and it will benefit sheep breeders and producers of sweaters.

・Gulmi Cooperative Nepali: coffee story

Gulmi cooperative Nepali has a farm located in the area between West Nepal and the Far East, the most undeveloped and remote areas of Nepal. Coffee requires a process to dry the red coffee berries, called cherries, and then to peel and roast the raw beans. When Nepali Bazaro started to import coffee long ago, Gulmi producers did not know how to peel the beans, so they brought them to other farms with peeling machines, causing their profits to shrink.

The producers succeeded in getting government budget for buying a peeling machine. The machine came from India, but then they discovered that they could not use it without electricity. They traveled 10 km to get electricity from another village, but once it was installed, they found they had no electric poles.

“When we make a plan, we usually start by listing the things we need,” says Tsuchiya. “But things were different there, and even worse than I expected.”

Sales of coffee in the market kept growing, and it was soon harvest time, which comes once a year. Tsuchiya asked the cooperative to send coffee, but they replied that the peeling machine could not be used because the government had decided to hold a ceremony before it could be used. She waited for the ceremony for months, and during that period had no choice but to reject new customers as she had to keep stock for established clients. Owners of café selling organic coffee called Tsuchiya for additional orders, but she could do nothing but apologize.

“We had a lot of trouble with the coffee producers. We invited them to Japan and went to Nepal as well to try to search for common ground. A few years were insufficient to solve all the problems, but now after 10 years we can see that Gulmi coffee is finally on the right truck. ”

・Spicy Home Spices: property accumulation savings for women

Spicy Home Spices is an organization of women set up by a female entrepreneur, which sells packs of spices to the Japanese market. The ten workers are now struggling to increase their earnings, and a provident fund system that was started this year may be the immediate solution for them.

The provident fund system is like property accumulation savings in Japan. Each month, the worker, Nepali Bazaro, and the entrepreneur deposit 50 rupees, 100 rupees, and 50 rupees respectively into the worker’s personal account. In Nepal the interest rate is high, so the deposit can accrue much interest. If this fund goes on for 5 years, the worker can get a maximum of 1 lakh (about 200 thousand yen) in her account. This is big money for women in Nepal, and can allow them to pay for their children’s entry into higher education, or for family emergencies such as surgery. Under this system, workers cannot easily withdraw money for monthly expenses.

 “Nepali women seldom use their earnings for themselves. They hand the money to their mothers or husbands, with the exception of some cosmetics or clothes that they buy at the time of festivals. So we have to tell them not to allow their husbands to use the money and to keep it secretly for themselves if they can.”

・Mahaguti: Ashrams for more women and children

Mahaguti is the oldest NGO in Nepal. In Nepal, the Rana autocratic regime ruled the country for 100 years, putting aside the King. It was a time of darkness, and left many negative legacies on Nepal, such as the low literacy rate and political confusion.

An ashram, traditionally a Hindu hermitage, was built in Nepal under the Rana regime by Sinohan, an anti-Rana activist, and he tried to bring women in and train them to acquire technical knowledge to live on their own. Since then, ashrams have acted as shelters for women at the bottom of the society.

At ashrams, women are offered habitation for two years. They receive training for one year in handweaving and another year in sewing. The children they bring in are nurtured and schooled, even after their mothers leave the ashram, until the 10^th grade. A marketing NGO, Mahaguti, was established 20 years ago to cover those expenses of the ashrams.

At first, Mahaguti sold clothes sewn by women at ashrams to charity organizations such as Oxfam England, but later began to sell products other than those made in the ashrams as the market became more demanding for quality. When Tsuchiya came to Nepal 15 years ago, sales of Mahaguti were so low that they could not cover their own operating budget. There were a few women in the big ashram of Kathmandu, and there were many vacant rooms.

“I was sad to see that so many people needed this place in Nepal but they were left out due to the bad economy. I committed myself to filling this ashram with hundreds of women and children.”

Mahaguti clothes produced by Nepali Bazaro sold very well, and within two years, the number of women living in the ashram increased from just a few to 60. This year, 100 women are provided housing there. This June when she visited the ashram, Tsuchiya was delighted to see many women learning how to weave and sew and to see small children with notebooks.

“I was so happy, but we still have many rooms, and I hope to see more people come and live here.”

・ Technical guidance linked with the market

Mahaguti producers can handle weaving, sewing and textiles. In the beginning, their products were plain-woven with a simple crisscross pattern. A Japanese textile-dyeing artist was invited to Katmandu two years ago, and three groups of producers learned more complex designs. Their products are now selling very well.

 “It’s essential to provide training programs catering to the demand of the market,” said Tsuchiya. “Nepal has received a lot of foreign assistance in forms of technical training and support, but this support has been of no use because it is not linked to the real market.”

Women receiving training are also aware of this reality. They want to be trained in a way that will allow them to earn a constant income.

・Manushi and Cotton Crafts: Producers on their way to growing out of support

Manushi was established by a NGO executive officer as a way to meet women’s complaints that they didn’t want training without marketing. However, initially the quality of the products was so poor that Tsuchiya had to turn down many of their designs. They started with tablecloths and bedcovers decorated with plant dye, and gradually developed them into clothes.

Manushi is a member of the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT). At the international conferences, producers proudly hand out their catalogues to other participants. Manushi received orders at this year’s conference.

Tsuchiya says, “It seems as if the time has almost come for them to grow out of our hands. We are always ready to support them but in a way such that they can stand on their feet. When one group achieves competency, we should go on to another group who need us. We are very happy that Manushi has reached that point.”

Cotton Crafts also grew from a few members to a group of 50 producers, and is expected to grow to 100 in several years. Nepali Bazaro asks them to do many of the most difficult clothes patterns, since their technical level is very high and they never make the same mistakes again once a complaint is made.

Nepal Bazaro invites two producers to Japan twice a year, to work and receive training in the office for a month. In this way they can take a look at the Japanese market, and see how Nepali Bazaro is organized.

“Through this training, our relationship has been strengthened to the point where we feel like one family, Nepali Bazaro family, and it’s good that they feel they’re not alone.”

・Young Wow Craft: pulp cloth and organic cotton

Pulp cloth was made in Japan long ago, but now there are few producers in Japan and they desperately hope to pass down this art to anyone willing to make it around the world. Nepali Bazaro came up with the idea to train people in Nepali to produce Japanese pulp cloth. A Nepali woman named Usha, the former executive officer of WEAN Coop, agreed to this idea and established Young Wow Craft.

Nepali Bazaro financially supported Young Wow to establish a factory and four machines to produce organic cotton, at a cost of about 4 million yen, as pulp cloth is not sufficiently profitable to make a living for many producers at this point. Hundreds of tons of cotton waiting to be processed in other areas of Nepal due to the lack of machines will be brought to Young Wow.

・Wool Garden: Ms. Macina, diligently into her work

Wool Garden was started by a woman producer of wool sweaters who Tsuchiya found had great knitting techniques. Ms. Macina can knit a sweater after taking just one look at the pattern or samples. She started knitting at the age of 12, 26 years ago, along with 2 older brothers and 2 younger sisters, and a father but no mother. She quit school at 12 to do all the housework, but her uncle insisted that she needed skills for her future, and taught her how to knit. Thanks to her diligent character, she soon became proficient. She and her sister knitted sweaters at her brother’s shop, and the orders kept increasing.

During the last 25 years, she has knitted thousands of sweaters, and her techniques stun many Japanese trainers who have produced hundreds themselves.

Tsuchiya says, “Looking back at those 15 years of discussing and building relationships with our Nepali producers, we definitely feel more connected and family-like.”

3.      Helping workshops for the disabled – Taking on the challenge of promoting independence

Nepali Bazaro orders confectionary from local Japanese workshops for disabled people, made from Nepali organic coffee, tea and orange peels, and also uses some of the best domestic wheat and organic sugar. The demand for those sweets has risen beyond the production capacity of the small workshops, and at present expansion of the workshops is under consideration.

Nepali Bazaro now orders from 7 local workshops.

“Having a challenging job can be very powerful,” says Tsuchiya. “It is not only about making money, but gaining confidence that one can contribute to the society, which makes people’s eyes lighten up and brings changes from the bottom.”

The income of the people working at the workshops is around 10 thousand yen a month. At Kirara, a local workshop, people worked for 10 to 20 yen an hour before encountering Nepali Bazaro. Many people, including Mr. Ogura, the former chairman of Yamato Transport, criticize these low wages as a human rights violation,. He built bakeries, called Swan Bakery, run by disabled people in many areas. Yet this is a rare case, and laws to help disabled people become independent remain unrevised and cannot keep their earnings at the minimum level.

“We set a goal for our workers to make 60 thousand yen a month. Many of them receive 60 to 70 thousand in monthly allowances, and this allows them to move together to a group home and live without their parents’ care. One workshop called Karakuri no Sato already told us that workers are delighted to make 30 thousand yen with cookies that sell very well. ”

Keeping the proper scale of business for small producers

Nepal is a small country with little external trade. Nepali Bazaro is responsible for 7% of Nepal’s total exports, at 800 million yen, and its impact on the economy is not small. Tsuchiya hopes that more Nepali Bazaro producers will emerge in Nepal, while she does not plan to make Nepali Bazaro grow bigger. If she did, maintaining the organization would take priority over producers’ benefits, and small-sized groups of producers might be left out.

 Tsuchiya says, “I believe that right size is important. Bigger NGOs usually pay 10 million yen for one or two projects, but I’d rather pay 1 hundredth of that sum to 100 groups of producers. A network of many small groups of producers who can be proud of their work will make the difference.”

4.      Asia linked through fair trade: South Korea and Taiwan

 In South Korea, two NGO groups have launched fair trade and contacted Nepali Bazaro for advice. One now imports coffee from Gulmi producers. They started with 3 tons of coffee, and increased the sum to 8 tons. This year, their coffee will go on sale in one of the major Korean supermarket chains.

 Another organization, which has worked on environmental issues, will make handicrafts with Nepali producers.

“They came to us looking for direction, and we advised them to try anything as we will give our support,” reports Tsuchiya. “Last year we guided them around Nepal, and I think everything is going fine so far.”

 What is striking about South Korea is that the mass media is vigorous in its backing of fair trade. In Japan, interviewers would simply go to Nepali Bazaro asking for a few pictures of producers, but Koreans actually fly to Nepal to write about what they saw and felt. Their passion helps fair trade to grow in South Korea.

In Taiwan, one person opened the first fair trade shop a year ago. It was small, but attracted so much interest that it is now ready to expand. The organizer, Ms. Wong, mainly imports products from Nepali Bazaro as she thinks it is more reasonable to do so than taking the risk to go all the way to Nepal and start everything by herself.

 Tsuchiya says, “Asian buyers are now ready to join our solitary relationship. I hope to invite people from South Korea and Taiwan to Japan to communicate and discuss more about our future movement.”

5.      Challenges and future prospects: Producers are our loadstar

 “Producers are our loadstar,” emphasizes Tsuchiya. “That is what I always say. When we face a problem, we should think if it is going to benefit producers in 5 to 10 years. As long as we remain producer-centered, I believe we are on the right track.”

・Development of made-in-Nepal organic materials

There is a pressing need to develop made-in-Nepal organic materials, as imports of foreign materials are still very common. Organic cotton and fibers of banana and orange are being developed as next-generation products.

“I want people in Nepal to be more proud of their country. They always say with some pride that theirs is the poorest country in the world, but that is really nothing to brag about. They are trapped in a spiral of negative thinking. I want to suggest that Nepal is a country full of natural resources, and has definitely more to be proud of than being poor,” states Tsuchiya.

・Encouraging organizations to be independent

What makes Nepali Bazaro distinct from other firms is their intention to encourage producers to become independent rather than to try to continue profiting from their sales.

Tsuchiya says, “It was when I was bedridden with an illness two years ago that I began to wonder what our producers would do without me and Nepali Bazaro. They said they almost lost their hope in the future without me.”

 In the major textile industry, production lines based on a division of labor are more common than one producer sewing all the parts. This may be reasonable considering time and performance, but it does not allow for independence.

“They need to be able to produce clothes from A to Z,” states Tsuchiya. “Even if a factory closes down or the workers get fired, they can still produce at home with their sewing machines. That is why we encourage our women to get involved in the whole process of sewing.”