Fairtrade is committed to raising incomes and living standards for producers in the global south. On Banana Lovers Day today, Fairtrade is celebrating the UK’s love affair with bananas. The organisation has seen a strong performance with nearly a quarter of bananas sold in the UK certified as Fairtrade.
Retailtimes.co.uk quoted Amy Morris, Waitrose’s Sustainability Coordinator,as saying: “Back in 2007 we committed to sourcing 100% of our bananas as Fairtrade. Since then we’ve seen the difference Fairtrade makes to the lives of farmers and workers within our banana supply chain and we continue to work closely with the Fairtrade Foundation to do what we can to support.”
To bring about positive change for the workers and improve working practices on the plantations, the agreed changes will be introduced and monitored. These include better supervision and knowledge-sharing, especially at harvest times, pest control and soil improvement, and management training.
But back to the humble banana. Even the pandemic hasn’t dimmed the popularity of the yellow fruit. Fairtrade bananas have almost a quarter of the market share in the UK and sales fell less than those of their non-certified counterpart during lockdown. This way, UK consumers have helped to drive this improvement in the quality of life of banana farmers.