19:00, 20 February 2021
Words by Smiley Team, Staff Writer, London
Featuring a huge range of informative and inspiring events, Fairtrade Fortnight 2021 takes place this month, from 22nd February to 7th March. This year, the Fairtrade Foundation will mark the two week period with its Choose the World You Want Festival.
Throughout the festival, participants can access a variety of free virtual events including panel discussions, performances, workshops and collaborations between the Fairtrade Foundation and retailers, chefs and high-profile names in the world of food and sustainability.
Coinciding with the launch of a new campaign to promote fairtrade products, the festival will focus on how farmers across the world are being impacted by the climate crisis and how festival-goers can help.
The director of public engagement at the foundation, Nilufar Verjee, said: “Farmers and workers in agricultural communities in the global south have contributed the least to the climate crisis – yet they are among the world’s most vulnerable and are already feeling the worst effects from unpredictable weather to natural disasters and disease. But without stable incomes, these farmers lack the ability to fight climate change impacts and continue to struggle to meet their immediate needs.
“Poverty and environmental damage in our food supply chains will not end until exploited farmers are paid fairly and given the power to make their own choices. Only then will they have the power to effectively fight the impacts of the climate crisis.”
Drawing from experience, fairtrade coffee farmer Bayardo Betanco, of the Prodecoop co-operative in Nicaragua, said: “There is a chain on earth that starts where the producers are. They are the ones who suffer the consequences of climate change, the ones who get the least help and carry all of the burden. It’s not fair.”
Sign up to join the festival here.
The Fairtrade Foundation is a charity promoting ethical food production in the global market. They run a large variety of campaigns to support food producers in the poorest countries of the world by providing living wages and good working conditions.
Their Fairtrade movement is made up of thousands of towns, villages, schools and churches, which have pledged to use Fairtrade products, including tea, coffee, sugar and biscuits, and to supporting Fairtrade as a critical solution for making trade work better for people in developing countries.
To support their project creating a fairer global food market and supporting poor food producers, donate to the Fairtrade Foundation.
