Date: 17 Feb 2010
What is Fairtrade and Fairtrade Fortnight?
“Fairtrade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development.”
Very simply the Fairtrade system creates opportunities for economically disadvantaged and producers and workers alike. Due to the conventional trading systems small producers and workers are often forgotten or underpaid, but Fairtrade gives fairer access to markets for these producers to make sure they get a fair deal.
Fairtrade is a tool to create a fair distribution of wealth and development amongst farmers and workers in developing countries.
The Fairtrade Label was created in the Netherlands in the late 1980s. The Max Havelaar 
Foundation launched the first Fairtrade consumer guarantee label in 1988 on coffee sourced from Mexico.
Here in the UK, the Fairtrade Foundation was established in 1992, with the first products to carry the Fairtrade Mark launched in 1994, now there are over 3,000 products in the UK alone.
At Doves Farm we source the following Fairtrade ingredients for use in our bakeries;
- Bananas from Brazil
- Cocoa from Dominican Republic
- Mangoes from Burkina Faso
- Brazil nuts from Brazil
- Pineapple from Togo
- Sugar from Paraguay
- Ginger from Sri Lanka
All of our Fairtrade ingredients are also certified organic, which means that the producers have not been exposed to potentially dangerous pesticides.
What is Fairtrade Fortnight?
Fairtrade Fortnight is a two week period from 22 Feb - 7 March in which Fairtrade is heavily promoted in shops and the media to help this noble cause. This year’s Fairtrade Fortnight theme is ‘The Big Swap.’ All you need to do is swap your regular stuff for Fairtrade stuff. Easy, just change your bananas for Fairtrade bananas, your coffee for Fairtrade coffee, your normal flapjack for a Fairtrade flapjack and so on. Whenever you pop to the shops, you can use your wallet to make a stand.
To find out more and how you can get involved visit the Fairtrade website here. Their target is to get 1 million and 1 people to do the swap. Every swap will be proof that the people of the UK want producers in the developing world to get a fairer deal.
