Coffee drinkers should consider not just flavor and jolt, but the price farmers in Africa and Central America get for their beans, say activists in Amherst and Whately.

They hope to bring the issue before governmental authorities this fall. They would like to see Amherst and Northampton commit to serving only "fair trade" coffee at official functions.

The new Amherst Fair Trade Partnership is showing the film "Buyer Be Fair" at 7 p.m. today in the Jones Library. There will be free samples of fair-trade coffee, tea and chocolate and a discussion after the film.

"Fair-trade prices are beginning to lift farmers out of poverty," said organizer Yuri Friman, of Amherst. "They help raise their standard of living, and make them able to send their children to school because they don't have to work on the farm anymore."

The conventional price paid to coffee bean farmers is around 40 to 50 cents a pound, while the fair-trade price can be as much as three times that, he said.

Dean Cycon, of Dean's Beans, and Darren and Sean Pierce, of Pierce Bros. Java Roasters, both dealers of fair-trade coffee, will be at today's event to explain their work on behalf of farmers. Adam Trott, of Collective Copies in Amherst, which sells fair-trade coffee, chocolate and nuts, is also expected.

There are about 150 "fair-trade towns" in Europe, where the movement started, Friman said. His goal is to introduce a resolution at Amherst Town Meeting this fall that would declare support for fair-trade products but wouldn't force anyone to buy them, he said.

"We want to educate people so they can make the correct choices," he said.

Meanwhile, Alexandra Mello, of Whately, has established a Web site that offers a list of coffee shops and stores in the Pioneer Valley that sell fair-trade products. The address is web.mac.com/alexandramello/iweb.

Mello, a Northampton native, has lived in Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, India and Nepal, and talked to coffee and tea farmers there. She has spoken on the issue at several Northampton events recently, and hopes to bring it to the City Council in the fall.

"There are so many issues we're concerned about in the world but feel powerless to change," she said. "Fair trade is a direct action you can take part in every day, based on what businesses you patronize. The people producing our coffee and tea have no voice, and we really need to connect to them by using our spending power."

Most coffee producers are at the whim of the international market, and the price they get often doesn't cover their costs, Mello said. Fair-trade coffee does not necessarily cost more than gourmet brands, and there is no compromise in quality, she said.

Although coffee and tea are the main focus of the movement, there are now fair-trade bananas, body-care products, crafts and even wine, she said. A lot of the chocolate sold in the U.S. was harvested using child slaves in West Africa, she said.

"I've been using film as a vehicle to ask, 'What does it mean to be disempowered by the world economic system and live in ongoing poverty while working 12 to 14 hours a day?'" Mello said.