Spread Your Love to the Third World this Valentine's Day!
Publish Date: Friday, 09 February 2007
Love is in the air at the Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council offices. Councillors have been sighted with roses in their hands and a twinkle in their eye. However, it is not only those receiving the beautiful gifts of roses who are benefiting, so to are the Kenyan producers who grow the roses. That's because the roses being proffered are Fairtrade roses and carry the Fairtrade Mark. The Fairtrade Mark is the only independent consumer guarantee of a fair deal for producers in the developing world.
As Fairtrade Fortnight approaches, (26th February - 11th March), Fairtrade is being promoted across the Borough, through the Agenda 21 unit, as part of the council's Fairtrade Initiative. This initiative aims to increase awareness of Fairtrade products and their benefits for third world producers, across the Borough.
The Fairtrade guarantee means that the growers who produce the roses receive a fair price and work in decent and secure conditions. They also can plan for the future as they have secure long-term trading relationships. Producer organisations receive a minimum price that covers the cost of environmentally sustainable production and an extra premium that is invested in social or economic development projects.
Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council switched to Fair Trade tea and coffee and implemented a Fairtrade Tea and Coffee Policy in 2000, and thus is making purchasing decisions that help to bring about real and lasting change in the lives of Third World producers. There are now over 2000 Fairtrade products available in UK. They range from tea and coffee to wine to cotton socks and even footballs! So why not make Fairtrade your habit and begin by spreading your love to the Third World this Valentine's Day? Or perhaps if you're too shy to give Fairtrade roses to the apple of your eye then you will think on your mother this Mother's Day!
Fairtrade roses can be ordered over the internet and are available from most large retailers. See www.fairtrade.org.uk for supplier details. By making the practical step to buy Fairtrade marked products you can choose to give a better deal to Third World producers. If you feel you want to do more than simply purchase Fairtrade goods this Fairtrade fortnight then why not tell your friends about Fairtrade of hold a Fairtrade event? Any comments, ideas or suggestions regarding Fairtrade are welcome. Or for further information please contact Yvonne Zellmann or Jill Hamilton, Local Agenda 21 Co-ordinators, 02887720366.
