Friday 13 March 2015

Fairtrade fortnight:Choose products that change lives

Fairtrade fortnight: Choose products that change lives

From 23 FEBRUARY – 8 MARCH thousands of events have been held across the UK to remind us to purchase fairly traded products wherever possible. 70% of the world’s food is produced by 500 million smallholder farmers yet many of them remain trapped in chronic poverty while shoppers enjoy the fruits of their labour. The Fairtrade system ensures farmers across the developing world receive a fair price for their work, as well as an additional Fairtrade Premium, used by farmers and workers to invest in their communities. The community then decides what the premium is spet on, whether that’s building a new school or hospital, or investing in better environmental business practices.

The UK is one of the world’s leading Fairtrade markets, with more products and more awareness of Fairtrade than anywhere else. Almost one in three bananas sold in the UK is Fairtrade. Fairtrade sales in the UK 2012 were £1.57bn. We have one of the most powerful networks of Fairtrade campaigners in the world, raising awareness about Fairtrade values in local communities and driving positive change for more than 1.5 million farmers, and their families, in developing countries. St James Church is a fair-trade church: we use Fairtrade coffee and tea at all our events. Emerging evidence through impact assessments has found that Fairtrade certification makes a significant difference to farmers’, workers’ and families’ lives. The benefits are economic, environmental and social.

There is an enormous range of Fairtrade products available, including clothing, jewellery, toys, homeware and gifts as well as groceries and household items so it is possible to make a large percentage of our shopping ethical. There are links for certain products from the Fairtrade website, but the largest range is available from Traidcraft plc, which is a trading company entirely dedicated to fair trade in that it applies fair trade principles across its full range of products. You can shop online: http://www.traidcraftshop.co.uk and also access their website from the Fairtrade website.

For more information on the range of products, see the Fairtrade website. http://www.fairtrade.org.uk (the range now includes fairly traded gold: say ‘I do’ with an ethically mined gold ring!)

If your local shop doesn’t offer Fairtrade products you can order leaflets explaining Fairtrade and giving them to the manager, while politely asking them to stock Fairtrade. And when they do, support them by telling others and buying fairtrade products.