A South African fruit-picker challenged Tesco to improve wages and working conditions on farms supplying its stores.

Gertruida Baartman, 38, from Ceres in the Western Cape, lobbied Tesco chiefs at the supermarket chain's annual general meeting in London.

She said: "I know Tesco has been told before about the problems workers experience on farms, and they have said it's not true. But I am going to Tesco as a worker who is still living a difficult life, and am appealing for change."

Baartman represented female fruit-pickers alongside Fatima Shabodien, of the South African group Women on Farms, and Wendy Pekeur, of the farm workers' trade union Sikhulu Sonke.

British charity ActionAid, a partner organisation of Women on Farms, has investigated the “poor pay and working conditions of female fruit-pickers in South Africa”. Thousands of South African women are employed as seasonal labourers to pick and pack fruit for export, according to its report published last year, called Rotten Fruit.

Tesco says it has already addressed problems with its suppliers in South Africa, both Women on Farms and Sikhulu Sonke are urging the supermarket to recognise the poor pay and working conditions within the South African fruit-picking industry and to take further action.

There have also been calls for a farm auditing process, which would include the workers and their representatives.

Baartman added: "I don't want Tesco to leave South Africa and I don't want people in the UK to boycott the supermarket. I just want the company to be fairer."

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