Bananas may be cheap and popular with the consumer, but who is paying the price? They are cheap partly because of the conditions under which they are grown. Nearly 90% of the world’s exports in bananas is controlled by six companies: Dole, Del Monte, Chiquita, Fyffes, Geest and Noboa. Most bananas for export are produced on huge single crop plantations in Latin America, with Ecuador accounting for nearly 40% of world trade.

Plantation workers endure long working hours and wages that don’t cover basic needs such as food, clothing and education; they are also exposed to hazardous chemicals which can cause terrible health problems including miscarriages, infertility, respiratory and skin problems.

Workers are often prevented from joining trade unions. Violent threats are not uncommon to union members and staff, and some union members find their names on lists that prevent them from gaining work on the plantations.

Fairtrade bananas have been available in the UK since 2000. The Fairtrade Mark ensures that a fair price is paid to cover the costs of production and includes a premium for social and environmental improvements.

                            

And Now Chocolate

The cocoa growers of West Africa are amongst the most exploited in the world. They face some of the world’s biggest and richest companies - companies that have refused to pay fair prices for generations.

Fairtrade was established to change all this by cutting out the exploitive middleman and dealing direct with the growers. You can make a difference straight away by simply switching to Fairtrade chocolate and by encouraging your friends to do likewise. Yes, it really does make a difference!

Black Gold

The film Black Gold is a sensation. Chelmsford Fairtrade Town Campaign has a copy and is willing to lend it to local groups. Why not organise an event for your organisation and combine it with a Fairtrade tasting? Contact 01245 601373 for further information.

Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate the industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil. But while we continue to pay for our lattes and cappuccinos, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields.

Nowhere is this paradox more evident than in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. Tadesse Meskela is one man on a mission to save his 74,000 struggling coffee farmers from bankruptcy. As his farmers strive to harvest some of the highest quality coffee beans on the international market, Tadesse travels the world in an attempt to find buyers willing to pay a fair price.

Against the backdrop of Tadesse's journey to London and Seattle, the enormous power of the multinational players that dominate the world's coffee trade becomes apparent. New York commodity traders, the international coffee exchanges, and the double dealings of trade ministers at the World Trade Organisation reveal the many challenges Tadesse faces in his quest for a long term solution for his farmers.

The Fairtrade Foundation has a series of films on its website

LOOK AT:

Fairtrade in the Dominican Republic

Fairtrade Coffee in Uganda

George Allagiah's Nicaraguan Video Diary