Since 2016, Selecta one supplies Fairtrade certified young plants to their poinsettia growers besides conventional ones. All poinsettias are sourced from Wagagai Ltd. in Uganda. Besides improving health and safety measures, enabling freedom of association and collective bargaining the employees benefit from a Fairtrade Premium, which can be used for social projects. Already in 2016, Selecta generated through their poinsettia sourcing at Wagagai a return of 8,000 Euro to local workers as a premium. Independently from this Selecta and Wagagai are fulfilling all environmental and social standards set by Fairtrade to meet the certification requirements.
In Uganda as well as in other developing countries, basic wages in agriculture are well below what would be considered a living wage. Pay is insufficient to allow workers and their families meet their essential needs and afford them a decent standard of living. The absence of a minimum wage in Uganda compounds the problem. Besides that, wages cannot keep up with the rate of price increase. As a consequence people loose purchasing power. In addition many public services like schools are charged in developing countries. Often people do not have enough cash to send their children to secondary school.
So called „Living Wages“ are therefore extremely important to sustain the livelihoods of the lowest income earners in labour organizations, mainly workers.
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