What is Fairtrade Fortnight 2014?

Did you know Fairtrade Fortnight is just around the corner? If you are less familiar with Fairtrade Fortnight, it is an annual celebration funded and organised by the Fairtrade Foundation to raise awareness of Fairtrade and promote Fairtrade products.  This year the event is taking place from the 24^th February to the 9^th March.  It is celebrated by consumers, retailers, businesses, schools, churches, producers and campaigners around the country who organise and participate in activities to campaign the importance of trade justice.  The types of events and activities that take place include food and drink tasting, fashion shows, fairs, fetes and much more! 

Every year Fairtrade Fortnight has a different theme running through it, last year was based around Fairtrade cotton.  The theme for this year is bananas.  Did you know the banana is the most popular fruit in the world with people spending more than £10 billion a year on the fruit globally?  Over the years bananas have been at the heart of Fairtrade and more than 1.3 billion Fairtrade bananas are sold in the UK each year.  Fairtrade supporters are hoping the Abolish Unfair Banana campaign will educate others the benefits of Fairtrade for small time farmers and workers.  There are still growing problems facing the banana industry, as many famers and workers are struggling to sustain a decent standard of living.  Small time farmers grow on average 70% of the world’s food however the reality is they only receive around 3% of the retail price once their products hit the supermarket shops.  The campaign around bananas seems fitting really to educate others about the benefits Fairtrade does for struggling small time farmers and workers.  

We at Rainbow Turtle can’t wait to get stuck in to Fairtrade Fortnight this year.  We hope you all will participate in some way whether it’s educating others about Fairtrade, buying Fairtrade or running events for your community.  Come on Go Bananas for Fairtrade!