DfID announces £1.2m for Fairtrade
Government cash will help kickstart Fairtrade drive to double sales
The Fairtrade Foundation will use the extra government investment, announced by the International Development Secretary, to kickstart its ambitious new strategy to double the market for Fairtrade products to £1 billion pounds by 2010 and to £2 billion by 2012.
Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation says: “We welcome the £1.2 million over the next two years as recognition that Fairtrade is one important means of reducing global poverty.
“Increasing numbers of people in the UK buy Fairtrade goods as a personal practical action to help tackle poverty in the developing world. In so doing they are already helping to give a better future to the seven million people, growers and their families, who currently participate in the Fairtrade system.
“But there is an urgent need to speed up the pace of change. Two billions people work incredibly hard but are still living on less than $2 a day. Everyone – government, business and the public - must come together to deal with this crisis.”
The Fairtrade Foundation will play its part by encouraging more companies to offer more Fairtrade products and the public to put those Fairtrade goods in their shopping baskets. The Foundation is determined to open up more opportunities for more growers worldwide, and in particular in some of the poorest countries of the world, such as Malawi. Farmers’ networks are keen for the Fairtrade model to be significantly expanded in their countries, a challenge that the Foundation and its international partners are determined to rise to. The UK government grant use be used to kickstart that process, focusing on creating opportunities for disadvantaged producers from the poorest countries.
It is vital that business gets the message too. Recent commercial developments in the UK include major switches from Tate & Lyle which have converted all their sugar to Fairtrade, Sainsbury’s, which has moved all their bananas, Red Label tea and own-brand sugar to Fairtrade; the Co-op which has switched all their hot beverages to Fairtrade; Waitrose which has switched all their bananas to Fairtrade; and several exciting developments in Fairtrade cotton products from Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Debenhams.
Harriet continues: “While there have been encouraging developments, we are looking to these companies to scale up their commitment, and more importantly still, the challenge remains to engage those companies that are still sitting on the sidelines to get involved.”
Change Today. Choose Fairtrade, the theme of Fairtrade Fortnight, is an urgent call to individuals, community groups, schools, universities and faith networks too to scale up their own activity as part of the vision of an even bigger movement for positive change on trade. Communities around the UK will organise around 10,000 events in the next two weeks.
Since 1999, DfID has provided grants totalling approximately £1.9m for a variety of activities including public awareness-raising through the Fairtrade Towns initiative and in schools, new product development and promoting Fairtrade in the ‘out of home’ sector.
Ends
For further information, phone 020 7440 7686/7695 or mobile 07770 957 451 or email eileen.maybin@fairtrade.org.uk or martine.julseth@fairtrade.org.uk.
Notes to editors
1. The Fairtrade Foundation is an independent certification body that awards the FAIRTRADE Mark to products which meet international Fairtrade standards set by FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International). Currently FLO spans almost 80 countries, working with 632 producer partners from 58 countries and across 21 Fairtrade markets in Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Japan. Seven million people - farmers, workers and their families - benefit from the international Fairtrade system and FLO aims to continually increase the number of producer groups registered to supply the international Fairtrade market. The UK has the most dynamic Fairtrade market in the world – here you can find the widest range of products, the most diverse range of companies involved and the most active grassroots campaigning network.
2. The full range of more than 3,000 Fairtrade certified products now includes coffee, tea, herbal teas, chocolate, cocoa, sugar, bananas, grapes, pineapples, mangoes, avocados, apples, pears, plums, grapefruit, lemons, oranges, satsumas, clementines, mandarins, lychees, coconuts, dried fruit, juices, smoothies, biscuits, cakes & snacks, honey, jams & preserves, chutney & sauces, rice, quinoa, herbs & spices, seeds, nuts & nut oil, wines, beers, rum, confectionary, muesli, cereal bars, yoghurt, ice-cream, flowers, sports balls, sugar body scrub and cotton products including clothing, homewear, cloth toys & cotton wool.
3. Fairtrade Fortnight is promoted by networks around the country including development agencies ActionAid, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Oxfam, SCIAF, Tearfund, Traidcraft Exchange and the World Development Movement, as well as a wide range of other organisations: Banana Link, the Methodist Relief and Development Fund, the Mothers’ Union, The National Federation of Women’s Institutes, the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, People & Planet, Shared Interest Foundation, Soroptimist GBI, the Public and Commercial Services Union, UNISON, the United Reformed Church, and many individual churches.