Local MP Caroline Dinenage welcomed students from Brune Park Community School to Westminster last week and headed up Downing Street with them to petition the Prime Minister for a better deal for banana farmers. The petitions came as part of the "Stick with Foncho" Fair Trade campaign that aims to transform the banana industry to ensure banana farmers and workers get a fair deal.
Commenting Caroline said:
"I fully support this excellent campaign to lift farmers and workers around the world out of poverty. These campaigns make a real difference so it's fantastic to see children taking an interest in the world around them at such a young age, and doing what they can to help those in need.
Thanks to the work of campaigners like these students, Fair Trade has taken off in the UK. In 2011 over £1.3 billion worth of Fairtrade goods were sold in the UK; it was just £50 million a decade earlier. It's wonderful to see kids from our area doing what they can to make all bananas fair."
Foncho is a banana farmer from Colombia who was trapped in poverty before his cooperative was certified as Fairtrade. He is now working to help banana farmers and workers around the world to get a fair deal for their produce. For more information on the "Stick with Foncho" campaign visit http://foncho.fairtrade.org.uk/