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Making the Fairtrade connection
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Kate Sebag, founder of Tropical Wholefoods/Fullwell Mill, on linking UK shoppers and small-scale producers
How did Tropical Wholefoods start?
Tropical Wholefoods
began in Uganda in the early nineties while my husband and I were working there together. In rural areas, people were struggling to rebuild their lives after years of dictatorship and war. Access to markets was a big problem. We wanted to find a low cost, high value product for farmers to sell abroad. We settled on dried fruit. It could be dried locally, and it had a strong market in Europe. Back in the UK we started out with stalls at London street markets, Spitalfields and Portobello, and at summer music festivals and grew from there.
What inspires you about Fairtrade?
The author EM Forster said ‘Only connect’, and that’s a phrase I often come back to. Tropical Wholefoods and Fairtrade connect people all the time; I love chatting with customers buying dried mango, and telling them the story of the women who dried the fruit. In Africa, I get to meet and connect to farmers at the other end of the supply chain. These are real connections, and bring tangible benefits. I’m inspired by the need for more Fairtrade, too. Times are tough here, but they are so much tougher in poorer countries where people have so few opportunities and no safety nets. I saw this when I was in Burkina Faso this summer where food and fuel costs have rocketed and have hit people really hard.
What's next for Tropical Wholefoods?
As part of continuing to grow and develop Tropical Wholefoods, we want to make sure our producers are gaining as much as possible out of their fruits, using all parts of it. We’re launching a range of flavoured apricot kernels from Pakistan in time for Fairtrade Fortnight 2009. And we’re seeking funds for a bio gas project in Burkina Faso where the mango peel and stones removed from the fruit before drying will be combined with other waste to create biofuel for the ovens that dry the fruit.
©
Winter 2008 Fair Comment