Kiwis are being urged to Choose Fair this Fair Trade Fortnight (5-20 May) to help provide a better future for more and more struggling small-scale farmers and workers in developing countries.
Campaigners and Fairtrade supporters up and down the country are organising a range of events and stunts for Fair Trade Fortnight and the campaign launched in Auckland this year with ‘A Fairtrade Breakfast in the City” hosted by comedian and ‘Opinionist’ Te Radar.
Te Radar says of Fairtrade “It’s one of the most simple decisions I think you can make when you’re shopping, consider if I had grown this product – how would I like to be treated – and then you can buy accordingly. If you believe you should be treated fairly then choose Fairtrade – it’s not rocket science.”
Special guest at the breakfast was Michael Toliman, a Fairtrade coffee farmer from Papua New Guinea, who described how Kiwi purchases of his Fairtrade coffee have made a world of difference to his family and whole community. Michael will also appear at A Fairtrade Breakfast in the City in Wellington on Friday 18th May and at Dunedin’s First Fair Trade Breakfast on Friday 11th May.
Fair Trade Fortnight is the biggest annual country-wide awareness- raising Fairtrade campaign and the theme this year is ‘‘Choose Fair’ – a call to all New Zealanders to take a stance and choose Fairtrade coffee, tea, chocolate, bananas and cotton products.
“By selecting these products consumers can be sure that farmers receive a fair and stable price as well as an extra Fairtrade Premium. This is a cash sum they can invest democratically in social, economic and environmental development projects such as building roads, clinics and schools and training in sustainable farming techniques – so choosing fair is something we can all feel really good about” says Fairtrade ANZ CEO, Stephen Knapp.
New Zealanders care about what’s fair, a GlobeScan survey for Fairtrade International in October revealed that a staggering 91% of Kiwis believe that companies should pay farmers and workers in developing countries fairly – higher than the global average.
Currently 1.2 million small-holder farmers and workers in 63 developing countries benefit from Fairtrade. “If each of us bought just one more Fairtrade chocolate bar, ordered another latte and bought a tee-shirt made with Fairtrade cotton – just think how many more of these people we could help” says Knapp.
An attempt at the first nationwide Carrot Mob in the world, (to benefit coffee farmers in Papua New Guinea) by Conscious Consumers, Oxfam’s Biggest Coffee Breaks, and an experiment to Pay Fairtrade Forward by the P3 Foundation are some of the events organised by supporters. In store chocolate tastings, special displays in 80 Countdown stores, nationwide TV ad campaigns from Fairtrade, Whittaker’s and Wild Bean Café, and promotions by Esquires and many independent cafes are all designed to get New Zealanders talking about Fairtrade and to actually get even more of us buying Fairtrade Certified products.
More info and events: www.fta.org.au/node/762
