Haiti Fairtrade Update

The Fairtrade Foundation will support any activity to help our producers and partners. Offers of donations to the producers are much appreciated, however food and water are the primary needs at the moment. Development organisations are best placed to meet these needs so please do continue to refer enquirers to the disaster fund websites such as the Disaster Emergencies Committee at http://www.dec.org.uk

Dominican Republic producers help

Fairtrade certified producers in the nearby Dominican Republic have offered support. Producers (Fairtrade and non-Fairtrade) have formed a commission which is currently trying to work out how help can be organized. The Fairtrade producers of coffee, cocoa and bananas and the non-Fairtrade banana producers have started contributing with funds. From this week, they have started sending water and medication. Next week, in addition to water they will also send food and bananas in lorries. In the next months the farmers plan on helping to rebuild houses destroyed by the earthquake. However, difficulties in crossing the border may mean that there are delays in getting all this help over.