Celebrities and Fairtrade campaigners have called on the British government to use the G8 summit to “unlock greater support for smallholder farmers to feed the world fairly and sustainably.”
Made in Chelsea’s Cheska Hull was among the prominent figures handing out petitions signed by more than 75,000 people at 10 Downing Street this week. The papers highlighted the key role that the world’s 500 million smallholder farmers can play in feeding the world’s growing population.
Everyone who signed the Fairtrade Foundation’s petition was able to create a personalised mini paper person, produced by technology start-up Foldable.Me, to create a virtual march on Parliament to launch the Make Food Fair campaign. Marchers included mini versions of celebrities Jonathan Ross, Harry Hill, Tinchy Stryder, Amanda Holden, Louis Smith, Richard Hammond, Levi Roots, Dermot O’Leary, Andi Peters and Eddie Izzard.
The development came ahead of World Fair Trade Day on 11 May.
The Co-operative supermarket chain pointed out that, alongside Oxfam,it has been championing smallholder farmers for over a year through its Grow Co-operatives campaign, highlighting that with the right tools, training and investment, these smallholder farmers – many of whom are women – offer “an excellent route to feed the world fairly and sustainably”.
Len Wardle, chair of the Co-operative Group, said: “We believe the G8 meeting provides a crucial opportunity for governments to recognise the contribution that smallholder farmers and co-operatives make towards food security and poverty reduction. Tens of thousands of our members have called on the UK government to unlock greater resources.”
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