Fair Trade in Keswick
It was interesting to see Keswick in the news again last week as one of the towns in the country most actively engaged in supporting the Fair Trade movement. The Guardian article Lakeside shopping (10 October) in its special feature Section “a positive change: Celebrating the Fairtrade Foundation” described how nearly 300 bodies including hotels, shops and cafes in Keswick have signed up to providing Fair Trade drinks, food and other items as a way of helping poor farmers and producers out of poverty.
There’s also a readers’ resources area and a useful graph in the Section showing the growth of the Fair Trade movement in the UK over the last 15 years. Total Fair Trade sales are up from £2.7 million in 1994 to £712.6 million in 2008, of which bananas now represent £184 million and coffee £137 million. It’s still a small part of this billion pounds sector, but a very encouraging development.
At The Larches we provide Fair Trade tea for visitors on arrival and we’re exploring how we can obtain introductory packs of Fair Trade coffee. More information about the very successful local campaign is on the Keswick Fair Trade website.
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