Fair Trade Fortnight

What is Fairtrade Fortnight?

For two weeks each year, Fairtrade supporters come together for a common goal; to celebrate the growers and producers of all our favourite Fairtrade products and ensure everyone knows what Fairtrade is all about.

This year Fairtrade Fortnight runs from 25th February to 10th March 2019. To mark this special week we have launched a new ‘Celebrate the Growers’ ethical gift box. Packed with a choice of fair-trade tea, coffee cocoa and sweets, it’s a great way to treat a loved one and spread the fair-trade message in one beautifully packaged box.

There are more than 1.6 million farmers and workers supported by Fairtrade. The Fairtrade Foundation aims to empower these producers by giving them a voice and a fair wage for their labour.

When you buy products with the fair-trade mark, you support them as they work to improve lives and communities across the world. The widely-recognised Fairtrade symbol means that the ingredients (or materials) in the product have been produced by small-scale farmer organisations or plantations that meet Fairtrade social, economic and environmental standards.

The standards include protection of workers’ rights and the environment, payment of the Fairtrade Minimum Price and an additional Fairtrade Premium to invest in business or community projects.

From ethical gold to the gift of roses, there are more Fairtrade-certified products than you might think; 4,500 individual products to be precise. Each Fairtrade Fortnight has a different focus and for 2019 that focus is cocoa, or chocolate to you and I!

90% of the world’s cocoa is grown on small family farms. Prime producer regions are across Asia, Africa and Latin America and the largest country by volume is the Côte d’Ivoire which produces a staggering 40% of global supply.

According to the Fairtrade website, £1.86 is the wage a West African cocoa farmer needs to earn each day in order to achieve a living income. In reality, almost all cocoa farmers in West Africa live in poverty.

A typical cocoa farmer in Cote d’Ivoire lives on around 74p a day. The Fairtrade Foundation have chosen to focus on women cocoa farmers this year by promoting their #SheDeserves campaign. 23% of Fairtrade farmers are women.

How can you support Fairtrade Fortnight?

You can buy Fairtrade chocolate! We sell a range of Seed and Bean Fairtrade chocolate, some of which is vegan (such as coconut and raspberry extra dark). Divine, the original Fairtrade chocolate brand, is also included in our ‘Celebrate the Growers’ gift box along with other ethical goodies and a description of where the products come from (as with all of our boxes).

Another way to support the cause is to organise a Fairtrade Fortnight coffee morning. Not only is this an opportunity to fundraise for the #SheDeserves campaign but you can also showcase a wide range of Fairtrade products. Create a feast for all ages using the kinds of tea, coffee and sweet treats we stock and add some zest with bananas and fruit juice.

The Fairtrade logo is commonly seen across many of our workplace cafes and kitchen cupboards, but how aware are we really of the impact of choosing fair trade?

Why not make this fortnight your opportunity to empower yourself as a consumer to make informed shopping choices.