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Harry Hill, a long term supporter of Fairtrade, has come up with the idea for his own Fairtrade salted peanut product and approached 100% Fairtrade nut company Liberation to manufacture and market the brand. Liberation is supported by Comic Relief and is 42% owned by nut farmers, including growers in Malawi and Nicaragua who are supplying the nuts for Harry’s Nuts!.

Harry will make no money from this venture so that as much revenue as possible will go back to the smallholder farmers in Africa and Latin America .

The BAFTA award winning comedian has recently travelled to Malawi with his brother Rod Hall, an organic farmer, and met some of the peanut farmers who are benefiting from Fairtrade.

Harry said: “I love salted peanuts myself and feel I am doing a service to snackers everywhere who want to know the farmers who grew what they are eating have been paid a fair price. I’m working with Liberation because all of its products are Fairtrade and the company is solely run to benefit the farmers and their families.”

Harry has been heavily involved in getting the taste right for the nuts and with the pack design. The nuts will be sold on a backing card which features a cheeky design penned by Harry himself.

The nuts, which have been extra roasted for additional crunchiness and taste, will be available in 50g packs at a recommended retail sales price of 59p, an eminently affordable Fairtrade munch at this time of credit crunch.

Harry visited Fairtrade banana and cocoa farmers in Ghana in 2002, and also launched the international FAIRTRADE Mark for the Fairtrade Foundation in that year. He was one of the well known personalities photographed by Trevor Leighton for a photo exhibition of people having fun with Fairtrade products, organised by the Fairtrade Foundation in 2006.

Ceri Willmott, Managing Director of Liberation, says: “Liberation is dedicated to supporting smallholder farmers in poorer countries through developing and marketing irresistible nut snacks. We are delighted to be working with Harry on this project which will be of tremendous benefit to farmers in Malawi and Nicaragua . Look out for Harry’s Nuts! at convenience stores, pubs, off licences and at ethicalsuperstore.com from October onwards.” For more information please see www.chooseliberation.com/harry.

Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation adds: “This significant move will give people the chance to enjoy snacking on Fairtrade nuts while helping nut farmers survive. Too often in the main market farmers face huge fluctuations in market prices but, by choosing products with the FAIRTRADE Mark, we can all make a real difference to the lives of farmers, workers and their families in developing countries.” 

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 Notes to Editors

1.     Liberation Foods’ shareholders include farming groups in Malawi , Mozambique , Nicaragua , El Salvador , Bolivia , Peru , Brazil and India . It is 42% owned by these groups, which represent 22,000 farmers, and 58% owned by ethical investors. All of the Liberation brand’s products carry the FAIRTRADE Mark. See www.chooseliberation.com Liberation was established by fair trade pioneering organisations Twin Trading (www.twin.org.uk) and Equal Exchange (www.equalexchange.co.uk) 
 

2.     The FAIRTRADE Mark is the only independent consumer guarantee of a fair deal for farmers in developing countries. Around seven million people – farmers, workers and their families – across 59 developing countries benefit from the international Fairtrade system. In the UK the FAIRTRADE Mark is awarded by the Fairtrade Foundation, the independent certification body which markets and promotes Fairtrade. See www.fairtrade.org.uk

3.    Liberation is a Community Interest Company (CIC) which means it is 100% run for the benefit of the community it serves – nut farmers and gatherers from poorer parts of the world. It supplies its own Liberation branded nut snacks - a high-end range of baked cashew and peanut mixes - to Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Oxfam shops and health food stores nationwide. Liberation also supplies leading UK supermarkets with most of the nuts for their own brand Fairtrade products, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and The Co-operative. It is a ‘sister’ company to well known Fairtrade brands Cafédirect, Divine chocolate and Fairtrade fresh fruit specialists AgroFair UK.