Fairtrade Fortnight is now a firmly established date in the ethical consumer’s calendar, and this year’s two-week whirl of activities is set to up the stakes again and create even more of a splash. This year represents the 25th anniversary of Fairtrade goods being sold in Europe, a region that accounts for 60-70 per cent of the global Fairtrade market.
For the first time ever this year, Fairtrade Fortnight will have a public launch, kicking off on London’s South Bank this Sunday with the Fairtrade Fairground, where visitors can try their luck at the Fairtrade coconut shy or fish for bananas, and sample a wide array of Fairtrade products. Visitors will hear producers from countries around the world talk about the difference Fairtrade is making to their communities.
The event will also see the launch of the specially adapted open-top Fairtrade Bus, which will tour the UK for the next two weeks to spread this year’s campaign message: Change Today, Choose Fairtrade. The bus will travel to Ipswich, Leeds, Sunderland, Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Cardiff and Bristol, inspiring ‘passengers’ to choose Fairtrade products.
Two new books are also to be released in time for Fairtrade Fortnight - the Fairtrade Everyday Cookbook, and Fighting the Banana Wars and other Fairtrade Battles, a work by Harriet Lamb, Fairtrade Foundation executive director, exploring the importance of Fairtrade as a global movement.
The UK spent more than £4 million on Fairtrade products in 2007, and the market has been growing by 40 per cent annually over the last five years, supporting some 7m people - farmers, workers and their families - across Africa, Asia and Latin America. More than 3,000 Fairtrade products are now available in the UK market, and one in every five bananas sold in UK supermarkets is Fairtrade accredited.
Consumer awareness of Fairtrade reached 57 per cent last April, according to the results of TNS Omnimas, whilst research by Defra and Make Poverty History suggests nearly 90 per cent of adults have now heard of Fairtrade.
The Fairtrade Foundation is the UK member of Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO), which unites 21 national initiatives across Europe, Japan, North America, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The foundation licenses the Fairtrade mark to products that meet internationally recognised standards.
Lamb says: “Fairtrade Fortnight is a fantastic people-to-people event that really gets consumers thinking about people at the centre of trade. Our choices will enable farming families to make their own positive choices and bring about change in their local communities. With more local campaigns, products, shops and businesses around the country becoming involved in Fairtrade, the aim is to surpass the huge number of events we achieved last year and push up demand for Fairtrade products.”
The Co-operative is once again lending its full support to Fairtrade Fortnight, with 20 per cent off all own-brand and branded Fairtrade products (from February 18 to March 9 inclusive), and national TV advertising.
Waitrose is also supporting Fairtrade Fortnight 2008 by offering customers 20 per cent off certain Fairtrade food items - including juices and dried fruit and nuts - as well as money-off promotions on wines and flowers.
The fortnight is promoted by networks around the country, including development agencies, student organisations, local councils, community groups, universities and colleges, and thousands of church and faith-based organisations.
Every year, more and more commercial operators get involved in Fairtrade Fortnight, Mark Varney, business development manager for the Fairtrade Foundation, tells FPJ. “We have also seen an increase in the amount of Fairtrade towns - more than 320 towns and cities in the UK now have Fairtrade status, and a further 200 are working towards receiving it. The idea of the towns is all about grassroots communication,” he says.
There are also 4,000 Fairtrade churches, 35 Fairtrade synagogues, 60 Fairtrade universities and a newly launched network of Fairtrade schools.
Last year saw 10,000 individual events support Fairtrade Fortnight, across a range of different businesses and establishments. “It is very hard to track how many activities there will be this year, but we estimate at least the same as in 2007,” says Varney. “We are completely relaunching our website as part of the event, although we updated the section for ordering Fairtrade Fortnight activity packs a few months ago. There has been an increase in the amount of packs ordered, which include posters, leaflets and bunting, etc.”
The business services page of the website will be updated so licensees can access information easier, and the site will also feature better photos, more producers’ stories and videos of producers talking. “We have also updated our corporate section, encouraging workplaces to sell Fairtrade food and drink, and increase availability of fresh and dried fruit,” says Varney. “Our research has shown that more than 90 per cent of consumers are now aware of Fairtrade, and less than five per cent of those have outright rejected the concept.”
The support of the multiples has been a real boon to the Fairtrade mark, he continues. “Sainsbury’s and Waitrose switching to 100 per cent Fairtrade bananas has made a massive difference to farmers in developing countries, and we are encouraging all the retailers to do more Fairtrade fruit. Obviously, 100 per cent Fairtrade as the norm is our ideal situation, but these moves are stepping stones towards that.”
Fairtrade fruit importer AgroFair is throwing its weight firmly behind the fortnight again, flying over producer Mayingele Sibuyi from the Lisbon Estate in South Africa, which grows Fairtrade grapefruit, to meet members of the public and tell them about the benefits of Fairtrade. AgroFair will be touring schools, churches and local community groups with Sibuyi.
The company developed the first Fairtrade bananas, mangoes and pineapples, and offers year-round supplies of oranges and soft citrus. Last year, it developed the first Fairtrade grapefruit. AgroFair is 50 per cent-owned by farming groups, who run day-to-day operations, are represented on the board and at annual shareholders’ meetings, and receive a share of the profit. The remaining 50 per cent is owned by Fairtrade companies and other ethical bodies.
“We are doing a lot more volume into all the major retailers now,” John Bowes, managing director of AgroFair UK, tells FPJ. “Fairtrade’s profile has risen, and so have the volumes, and that is reflected in what we are importing.
“Fairtrade Fortnight creates a lot of media attention, and is a firm reminder to consumers about the impact of Fairtrade on the developing world,” he says. “The Fairtrade market offers phenomenal growth - it doubles every two years - thanks to the media, businesses like our own and also the input of the retailers, who have given it greater exposure and raised the profile.”
But people still have an “inexact understanding” of what Fairtrade means, says Bowes. “They understand the simple fact that the farmer gets more money, but they don’t see the other benefits, such as the use of the Fairtrade premium, and the self-empowerment, self-confidence and financial independence selling Fairtrade produce gives farmers.”
The Fairtrade premium, an additional sum for community development, is used by farmers’ groups in developing countries to build schools, provide clean drinking water, pay for sickness benefit and pilot organic conversion schemes to help farmers work for the future
AgroFair will not be the only fresh produce firm lending its full support to Fairtrade Fortnight. UK importer Katopé Malet Azoulay will be handing out fruit at Asda’s head office as part of its Fairtrade Fortnight activities, as well as touring local schools to spread the Fairtrade message. The firm supplies 14 Fairtrade lines overall, into Marks & Spencer, Asda and Morrisons, and grapes, oranges, pineapples, avocados, mangoes, easy peelers, lemons, lychees and limes will be available for the duration of the fortnight. “We only launched the limes, which are from Brazil, into Asda and Morrisons a month ago,” Geoff Chappell, Fairtrade and organic departmental manager at the firm, tells FPJ. “We also launched Fairtrade organic avocados into Sainsbury’s for the first time in October 2007.”
Katopé Malet Azoulay will be launching two more Fairtrade lines this year. “We are always expanding our range,” says Chappell. “Katopé sees Fairtrade as a category, and as a result, we feel we have the responsibility to drive new products. We have been heavily involved in Fairtrade for the last four years. The message and availability of the mark has spread, and that means not just new products, but continuity of products on the shelves - filling the gaps in supply.
“Dealing in Fairtrade is a total commitment - not just a way of trading, but rather a whole ethos to take on board,” adds Chappell.
Sales of Fairtrade produce have followed a clear increase over the last year, and importer Mack Multiples, part of Fresca Group, has increased its supply base in this area accordingly, explains managing director David Lloyd. “We expect spikes in demand to coincide with retailer promotions, advertising and media coverage of events such as Fairtrade Fortnight. Our multiple retail customers are keen supporters of Fairtrade Fortnight, so we’re expecting a significant uplift in Fairtrade sales in the coming weeks,” he says.
Mack offers bananas and grapes from Fairtrade-accredited sources, whilst MMG Citrus, another Fresca business, has a strong Fairtrade citrus offer. “We’re always working to increase our Fairtrade volumes and expand our product range in this area, so we work closely with FLO and our overseas suppliers to do as much as we can to assist them in the accreditation process,” says Lloyd.
Elliot Mantle, commercial director at Mack Bananas, tells FPJ: “On bananas alone, given the switch at Sainsbury’s to 100 per cent Fairtrade, Mack has increased its sourcing by a further three countries, and our procurement figures for Fairtrade increased by 800 per cent last year. Fairtrade bananas now account for 90 per cent of all our banana imports.”
“Fairtrade is increasingly important to us, and this has been driven by the retailers in response to the growing consumer awareness of, and demand for, Fairtrade products,” says Lloyd. “Their commitment to Fairtrade sourcing also sits comfortably with our own company values. We source from more than 80 countries around the world, and any solid initiatives that help ensure a fair deal for producers receive our strong support. We answer retailer demand and have to predict market trends in order to meet our programmes.”
While there is no questioning the commitment of the multiples to Fairtrade, smaller stores find it harder to make Fairtrade-accredited fresh produce an economically viable category.
“The particular challenge in stocking fresh Fairtrade fruit outside the multiples is the enormity of scale required - it is a much harder category to get right than ordinary grocery products,” says Varney. “However, we have gone over the tipping point, so that Fairtrade bananas are now a commercial product, and Fairtrade in general has become more viable. Essentially, involvement in Fairtrade needs to make economic sense for all parties involved - retailers, importers, stockists, etc.
“But a line in the sand has been drawn which demonstrates that consumers are interested, and the shift towards Fairtrade in the fresh produce sector has also generated interest from other areas of grocery. The intervention by Sainsbury’s and Waitrose on the banana side has been very positive towards that.”
While by all accounts the category is in fine fettle, there is still plenty more to be done to boost penetration. Fairtrade Foundation market research has revealed that the biggest obstacle to increasing sales is lack of visibility and availability. “The way people shop means they get into habits of only buying into certain categories,” says Varney. “But we have seen that when you clearly display something like Fairtrade and show its benefits, it bumps up sales. Asda did a big display last year, and that extra visibility really drove up its Fairtrade sales.”
More organised events could also help uplift sales still further. “Fairtrade Fortnight is an established event - it is a great point in the calendar, but it is only two weeks long. There is much more we can do, and it would be good to organise events throughout the year,” adds Bowes.
But the sector’s growth certainly shows no signs of abating. “We expect the Fairtrade trend to increase - it’s proving popular and awareness is growing all the time,” says Lloyd. “Responsibility for lifting consumer awareness further still needs to rest largely with the media, the retailers and the various stakeholders in the Fairtrade movement - but as time passes and more and more producer countries see the benefits of Fairtrade projects, awareness will naturally increase.”
GHANA BANANA FARM FEELS FAIRTRADE BONUS
AgroFair sources its bananas from the Volta River Estates (VREL) Fairtrade banana farms in Ghana.
Alex Yeboah-Afari, VREL personnel manager, has been at the company for 18 years. “VREL produced the world’s first Fairtrade bananas 11 years ago, which were sold in mainland Europe, and in 2000 these were sold in Co-op stores - the UK’s first Fairtrade bananas,” he says. “Thanks to VREL, the banana workers here have a guaranteed income. At the end of every month they know what they will receive. In the past they were dependent on the rains coming, and life was more unpredictable. We have 600 people working at VREL, and the whole workforce is now permanent - we have no temporary contracts.”
The Fairtrade premium has enabled VREL to provide four mosquito nets to each of its workers, and two sets of school uniform for each child. A junior secondary school classroom for 11 to 12-year-olds is also being built. “We are planting trees and financing an immunisation programme for the wider community,” says Yeboah-Afari. “We have also supplied a water tank for a small town nearby, and are setting up loans for our workers - most will spend these on supporting their children’s education and buying materials for school. We also provide information on HIV/AIDS, and counselling and voluntary testing.”
Paulina Ayesua, a 35-year-old field worker with VREL, and her husband Samuel live in a small village called Atimdoku near the banana farm. She says: “VREL is very important to me. If I wasn’t here, I don’t know how my life would be. Life is still a struggle, but it is much better than before I worked here.
“I wanted to be a hairdresser, but I didn’t have the money to do an apprenticeship, so I came to VREL and found that it was well organised here. I like all the work here and I can do it well. I feel proud of the work we do growing Fairtrade bananas.
“Through the Fairtrade premium this year we have been given mosquito nets, and this helps us feel much safer. The nets are saving our lives, and we are so appreciative of that.”
Yeboah-Afari adds: “Buying Fairtrade bananas affects the lives of not only the 600 workers here, but that number can be multiplied by five or six, because we have an extended family system here which socially binds us together. Once we have Fairtrade we are assured of market access. We are assured of the premiums. There is still a lot of poverty here, but there is hope.”
FAIRTRADE FLORAL PRESENCE COMES UNDER FIRE
While all the UK’s major retailers stocked a range of Fairtrade flowers for Valentine’s Day, online florists have been accused of failing to make the same efforts.
Waitrose says it has seen a 40 per cent rise in sales of Fairtrade flowers in the past year, and that 90 per cent of its Kenyan roses are now Fairtrade, while Asda recently became the first retailer to offer Fairtrade lilies.
But according to a report in Ethical Consumer magazine, Teleflorist - the largest flower delivery website in the UK - does not offer Fairtrade-certified flowers, while Flowersdirect and Flowergram do not offer locally grown, Fairtrade or organic flowers through their sales centres.
“All the large supermarkets are now offering Fairtrade flowers, so we were horrified to note that the relay companies don’t seem to prioritise ethical flowers,” said Hanna Backman, the author of the report. “We would like to see a range of locally grown, organically certified and possibly even seasonal flowers for sale on the flower relay company websites.”
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