Change Today. Choose Fairtrade, is an urgent call to people in the UK to engage with the Fairtrade Foundation?s vision of an even bigger movement for positive change on unfair trade, including making the switch to buying Fairtrade. This is the theme of Fairtrade Fortnight 2007 (26 February ? 11 March), the annual promotional campaign of the Fairtrade Foundation which encourages people to buy products carrying the FAIRTRADE Mark.

Fairtrade sales increase by around 40% every year in the UK, giving hundreds of thousands of producers in developing countries the chance to build a better future and to compete in cut-throat global markets. But Fairtrade Foundation Executive Director Harriet Lamb wants the movement to go further: ?Fairtrade has demonstrated its potential to help producers improve their livelihoods, strengthen their businesses and benefit their communities, but compared with what is needed in the poorer countries of the world, we?ve really only begun to make a dent in the struggle against poverty and unfair trade.?

?With more local campaigns, products, shops and companies in Britain and Ireland involved in Fairtrade, we all now have the chance to play an even bigger part in helping bring about much more significant change,? she adds. ?Communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America have done so much with the leverage of Fairtrade, and there is so much more they want to do, so many more changes they want to make in their lives too. But to achieve that, we need even more buy-in from businesses and consumers at home.?

The FAIRTRADE Mark is the only consumer label that focuses on ensuring farmers in developing countries receive an agreed and stable price for the crops they grow, as well as additional income to invest for the future. With polls showing that more than one in two people in the UK recognise the FAIRTRADE Mark, the Fairtrade Foundation is using this year?s Fairtrade Fortnight to communicate how informed consumer decisions can help tackle poverty in the developing world. Stories of farmers like Gerardo Arias Camacho of Coocafe coffee cooperative in Costa Rica will help build understanding of how consumer purchasing of Fairtrade products is supporting them in bringing about change in local communities. Camacho tells how Coocafe has used the added premium which comes with Fairtrade sales to replace old coffee trees, install a water treatment system reducing the use of water, repair roads and bridges and pay for student scholarships.

?We want people to understand that by changing to the huge range of Fairtrade products now available they are empowering others to work for a better life,? says Harriet Lamb. ?A small change in our shopping habits can mean a community in Africa, Asia, or Latin America can build classrooms, employ a nurse or invest in processing machinery,? says Harriet Lamb. ?Fairtrade has been embraced enthusiastically by people in the UK but we still need more and more people to choose Fairtrade so that more farmers can sell more of their produce under Fairtrade terms.?

In September, Harriet Lamb attended the first General Assembly of the Network of Asian Producers in Fairtrade held in Thailand. There she went on a field visit to rice farmers with the Sarapi Chokchai Co-operative, four hours? drive from Bangkok. As with many crops, disastrous falling prices of rice (from over US $600/tonne to just $150/tonne in the 30 years to 2002) have left farmers struggling to earn a decent livelihood. In 2005, global sales of Fairtrade certified rice grew 23% to reach 1,700 tonnes. However, Sarapi Chokchai co-operative alone has a capacity of 11,000 tonners of rice, highlighting the scale of the challenge facing the Fairtrade movement. As Thai rice grower Korawan Yormkratok, told Harriet: ?For the rice shoots, we?re waiting for the rain. For our living, we?re waiting for Fairtrade.?

To take up this challenge, the Foundation is co-ordinating The Fairtrade Fortnight promotional campaign, showing just how easy it is to bring change by choosing Fairtrade products. Posters are being distributed countrywide exorting people to Munch it!, Wear it!, Spread it!, Taste it! and Choose it! along with the call to action Promote it!, Try it!, Plan it! These will be used by thousands of Fairtrade supporters who hold events to promote Fairtrade during the annual Fairtrade Fortnight campaign. Last year around 10,000 events were held, from fashion shows and football matches, to concerts and exhibitions. Tastings of Fairtrade products were held in churches, mosques, synagogues, schools, universities, supermarkets and workplaces.

Throughout 2006, there has been a host of major developments for Fairtrade in the UK. One of the main successes has been an increase to 210 in the number of Fairtrade Towns ? communities where active Fairtrade networks pledge to promote Fairtrade in their towns, villages and cities. There are also 50 Fairtrade Universities and 3,000 Fairtrade Churches. A Fairtrade at Work campaign was launched in the autumn, championed by major companies including Co-operative Financial Services ? the parent organisation of the Co-operative Bank and Co-operative Insurance ? to encourage workplaces to offer Fairtrade products such as tea, coffee, fruit juice, sugar and biscuits to employees in the staff canteen, in meetings or throughout corporate catering.

The year has also seen unprecedented uptake by the commercial sector resulting in many new products and new product categories, and major increases in market share in some of the well developed categories. Fairtrade bananas currently make up 7.9% of the UK banana market by value, compared with 4.2% in 2004 and 6.7% in 2005. Fairtrade roast and ground coffee now accounts for around 20%of the market and Fairtrade pineapples 5.2%.

?With everything from peppercorns, cinnamon and vanilla pods, to avocados and grapes to rum and wine, to yule logs, and blueberry muffins, there is something for everyone in Fairtrade,? says Harriet Lamb. ?Many people still only think of tea and coffee when they think of Fairtrade, but there is now a huge range of products, and a huge range of choice within each product category. So there is something for everyone among the 2,000 Fairtrade retail and catering products - and Fairtrade Fortnight 2007 is a great time for people to make the change and choose Fairtrade.?

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