Fresh produce businesses and retailers have been urged to overhaul elements of their supply chain as thousands of Fairtrade supporters prepare to launch a banana-focused Fairtrade Fortnight.
Twenty years on from the inception of the Fairtrade mark, the aim of the movement’s 17th annual ‘fortnight’ scheme is to trigger a revolution in the banana industry and ensure millions of struggling banana workers get a fairer deal.
The second phase of the foundation’s three-year campaigning programme, Make Food Fair, will be unveiled on 24 February.
Michael Gidney, chief executive of the Fairtrade Foundation, said: “Despite being highly successful in many areas, Fairtrade products still represent less than one per cent of global trade in most categories. Our job is by no means done, and we plan to tackle this trade injustice, commodity by commodity, starting with Britain’s most popular fruit.”
It is hoped this year’s campaign will get more retailers and fresh produce suppliers acquainted with the movement. At present, only The Co-operative, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose sell 100 per cent Fairtrade bananas, compared to, for example, Marks & Spencer, which has a Fairtrade to non-Fairtrade ratio of 56:44.
The Fairtrade market is growing, though – in the UK, sales of Fairtrade products in 2012 reached £1.5 billion, an 18 per cent increase on 2011. Added to that, one in every three bananas now sold in the UK is Fairtrade, and sales of Fairtrade fresh fruit and flowers have also increased exponentially since the early 2000s.
Gidney said: “Fairtrade Fortnight 2014 will focus specifically on bananas, so will give the fresh produce industry an ideal chance to talk publicly about its 100 per cent commitments to Fairtrade and fairness in the sector more generally. It will also highlight the retailers who don’t stock significant amounts of fair bananas.
“We expect our campaigners to make the most of the opportunity the initiative provides them to campaign for a fairer banana industry.”
He added: “Most retailers sell Fairtrade fruit and just a few sell vegetables such as green beans. But some of the biggest retailers only sell very small percentages of fair bananas and there is plenty of room in the market for them to do more.”
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