The Palestinian-American entrepreneur Nasser Abufarha, Founder of the nonprofit Palestine Fair Trade Association (PFTA), and Canaan Fair Trade, the largest exporter of fair trade and organic Palestinian olive oil to the US and Europe, is to speak in Santa Cruz today.

Mr. Abufarha will be discussing the work of fair trade organizations in Palestine and will also receive a donation of $25,000 toward the Association’s work. In 2004 the PFTA created the first internationally recognized standard for fair trade olive oil and has since gone on to introduce fair trade and organic farming techniques to thousands of Palestinian farmers in the west bank region.
The goal of the PFTA and Canaan Fair Trade has been along two lines: to increase the quality of production, creating a system that is at once sustainable, ethical, and true to Palestine’s long history of olive oil making, and to build groups of small producers to better target international markets.

JANUARY 17TH 2011
BOOST FOR PALESTINIAN FAIR TRADE OLIVE OIL
BY: OLIVE OIL TIMES http://www.oliveoiltimes.com/olive-oil-business/africa-middle-east/palestinian-fair-trade-olive-oil/11477