Boffzen. A 500 millilitre bottle of olive oil would soon be empty: "Palestinian families need so much that they buy it in canisters," says Fida Abdallah. She is the chief accountant for Canaan Fair Trade. Together with couscous producer Ibtissam Musa, Abdallah has come to the Ölmühle Solling in Boffzen. They deepen their business and friendship contacts at the oil mill.

Abdallah and Musa come from the Palestinian West Bank, where the Canaan Fair Trade company supports local organic farmers and gives women like Ibtissam Musa micro-loans to help them become self-employed. Fair trade guarantees farmers a minimum price for their produce, regardless of whether market prices are currently much lower or not. Musa has been producing maftoul (Palestinian couscous) and wheat for Canaan for almost ten years. Thanks to a microloan, she has been able to set up a shop for her husband and, thanks to fair trade, she has enough money to pay for her children's education. Of her six daughters and two sons, four have gone on to university and the two youngest are still at school. "I now feel stronger myself and well positioned in society," says Musa. She is a leader in her village of Dayr Ballout.

The contact between the Canaan wholesaler and the Ölmühle Solling was established at the Biofach trade fair in Nuremberg. Organic food producers from all over the world exhibit there every year. "My parents got to know Canaan products there seven years ago," says Sebastian Baensch, managing director of Ölmühle Solling. Mill owners Gudrun and Werner Baensch were impressed by the quality of the products and the social commitment behind them, and began working with Canaan, with the mill distributing the fair trade olive oil.

Canaan works with the Palestinian Fair Trade Association (PFTA) and several farmers' cooperatives. "The farmers' representatives are members of our board. This allows us to discuss marketing and demand directly with them. They tell us what their communities need and share their agricultural knowledge with us and other members," says Abdallah. Through Canaan, farmers can also apply for scholarships for their children to get an education. Because Musa has benefited so much from the system, she has now brought 21 other women into the fair trade network. These women are now also food producers. "Being self-employed has turned my life around 180 degrees," says Musa.

Growing olives and other food crops has become worthwhile again thanks to fair trade: "Ten years ago, a kilo of olive oil cost only nine shekels. That is about two euros. That did not cover the cost of production," says Abdallah. Now it costs 27 shekels, or about six euros. In addition to olive oil, Canaan also sells almonds, spices, herbal mixes and maftoul. The Fair Trade products are exported to Asian countries, the USA and Europe. In Germany, the organic association Naturland and the fair trade cooperative dwp also cooperate with Canaan Fair Trade.

Neue Westfälische, 2017.