West Somerset going bananas for Fairtrade Fortnight

RECORD Fairtrade sales figures have been announced, just as Fairtrade Fortnight in the UK starts.
The sales of Fairtrade products reached £300 million in the past year with 2,500 retails and catering products now so-branded.
The news came as The Co-operative also celebrated the beginning of Fairtrade Fortnight with news that for the first time all 3,000 of its food stores will stock Fairtrade bananas.
As part of the celebrations,, Co-op staff in Minehead, Alcombe, Watchet, and Williton took part in the largest-ever simultaneous banana-eating bonanza in the UK.
As well as taking part in the record-breaking event, local Co-op staff were also ‘monkeying around’ with giant inflatable bananas and monkey masks and costumes, to highlight the good news to shoppers.
The Co-op, which introduced the UK’s first Fairtrade banana back in 2000, currently sells around 22 million Fairtrade bananas, and this is expected to jump to more than 43 million within a year as Fairtrade bananas go on sale in its stores nationwide.
At the same time, Sainsbury’s chief executive Justin King announced a 100 per cent switch to Fairtrade bananas.
Tesco is also extending its range of Fairtrade nuts to five items ranging from brazil nuts to a peanut, cashew, and mango mix, while Threshers is launching a range of Fairtrade wines, and Waitrose is switching its banana range to 100 per cent Fairtrade and introducing a range of Fairtrade roses.
Expanded ranges of fresh produce will be the focus of in-store promotions in Morrisons and Asda.
The Fairtrade Foundation’s message for Fairtrade Fortnight 2007 is that, while sales of Fairtrade products continue to soar, change was still not happening quickly enough for millions of the world’s poorest farmers, who remained trapped in ‘trade poverty’.
The Foundation believes 2007 will be the year when people define themselves by their attitude to fairness in society.
It expects a surge of support for real values, such as those enshrined in Fairtrade, which will create a momentum allowing significant change to become possible.
Fairtrade Foundation executive director Harriet Lamb said: “The road signs for tomorrow’s Fairtrade world are out there.
“Up and down the country, the public are knocking on doors from the town hall to the local supermarket asking for more engagement with Fairtrade, and this is driving companies, large and small, to respond.
“And all of this means more farmers are able to sell more of their produce under Fairtrade terms, strengthening their organisations, building long-term relationships, and increasing benefits to their communities.
“But the road to our destination is still long and hard.
“Fairtrade is beginning to move from being an ‘optional extra’ to a ‘must-do’.
“Way too many companies have yet to wake up to the public’s changing expectations.
“We need people to shout even louder, and we need companies to respond with genuine engagement.
“Otherwise, millions of farmers will remain consigned to poverty.
“Fairtrade must become an everyday part of the way this nation thinks and shops.
“Fairtrade has achieved a paradigm shift that has popularised the link with the farmers who grow the food on our tables that puts people - the producers and consumers - at the centre of trade, and is redefining what is acceptable behaviour for all of us, from consumers to business to governments.
“Fairtrade is a powerful idea, showing that you can and should manage markets for social and development goals.
“It is a powerful idea and it is rapidly triggering changes.
“The challenge now is to capitalise on the current momentum and take Fairtrade to the next level.”

• Pictured going bananas in the Williton Co-op store during their lunch break are (top) West Somerset Free Press advertising sales executive Michelle Kemp, photo by Mark the Photographer, ref M010012; and (middle) Ben Bryant, from Lloyds Pharmacy, photo by Mark the Photographer, ref M010003. Order image reprints online at www.tcpbymtp.co.uk.

Supermarket staff going bananas for Fairtrade

CO-OP supermarket staff in Minehead, Alcombe, Watchet, and Williton will be going bananas on Monday, February 26, at the start of Fairtrade Fortnight.
They will be celebrating the consumer-owned retailer’s announcement that for the first time it is selling Fairtrade bananas in all of its 3,000 food stores.
More than 25,000 Co-op store staff across the country are taking part in the largest-ever simultaneous banana-eating bonanza in the UK as part of the celebrations, starting at 10 am on the day.
As well as taking part in the record-breaking event, local Co-op staff will be ‘monkeying around’ with giant inflatable bananas and monkey masks and costumes, to highlight the good news to shoppers.
The Co-op, which introduced the UK’s first Fairtrade banana back in 2000, currently sells around 22 million Fairtrade bananas, and this is expected to jump to more than 43 million within a year as Fairtrade bananas go on sale in its stores nationwide.
Co-operative Group chief executive of food retail, Guy McCracken, said: “The Co-op has led the way in making Fairtrade mainstream and with more people than ever looking to buy Fairtrade and help producers and their families in the developing countries, this great news means that all our shoppers, from Shetland to Penzance, in rural, island, and urban communities, and in our smallest convenience stores, can support Fairtrade by buying the UK’s favourite fruit.”
The Co-op move also signals a breakthrough in the campaign to support small, independent producers and bears testament to the relationship the Co-op has built with such producers in Ghana, Equador, Costa Rica, and the Windward Isles.
Williton Co-op manager Phil Leat said: “We don’t mind making monkeys of ourselves if it helps to promote this ‘a-peeling’ initiative and encourage many more shoppers to support Fairtrade.”