Coffee producers explain Fairtrade (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Coffee producers explain Fairtrade

6:03pm Monday 3rd March 2008 in News

COFFEE producers from Uganda and Mexico were the centre of attention at Winchester University when they talked about how Fairtrade affected their lives.

Producers Willington Wamayeye from Mbale in Uganda and Delmar Lopez from Chiapas in Mexico were the guest speakers at an event hosted by the University of Winchester last Thursday (February 28) as part of Fairtrade Fortnight.

The Fairtrade mark is an independent consumer label, which appears on products as an independent guarantee that disadvantaged producers in the developing world are getting a better deal.

The Fairtrade Foundation, a UK independent body, is responsible for licensing the Fairtrade mark to products in the UK.

It also promotes Fairtrade Fortnight, a two-week period in which people across the country put on events to raise awareness about Fairtrade.

To get the message across in Winchester, the city's Fairtrade Network invited the coffee producers to the university to talk to students and guests.

Mr Wamayeye and Mr Lopez explained how the Fairtrade premium had improved conditions in their communities, and how the Fairtrade system had given them, as small farmers, the opportunity to become trustees of Cafe Direct, and enabled them to have a voice in the global coffee market.

They also emphasised how encouraging it was to see for themselves the support for Fairtrade in Winchester, which is currently waiting to hear if it has been awarded Fairtrade status.

If it has, it will be able to call itself a Fairtrade city. There are currently three Fairtrade cities in Hampshire; Andover, Portsmouth and Southampton; two Fairtrade towns; Romsey and Ringwood; and one Fairtrade Borough, Fareham.