Like every year, the annual Fairtrade Fortnight 2016 (from 29th Feb – 13th Mar) came up with a very noble theme: SIT DOWN FOR BREAKFAST, STAND UP FOR FARMERS. According to the Fairtrade Foundation, smallholder farmers produce more than 70% of the world's food supply, yet shockingly they represent over 50% of the world's hungriest people who produce our food, missing meals or, worse, facing a year-round struggle to get enough food to eat.
During the Fairtrade Fortnight, campaigners were encouraged to support, promote, organise and participate in Fairtrade Breakfasts in their communities – and wake others up to the challenges facing farmers and workers, so that more and more people can make, informed and responsible choices in terms of buying fair trade products. Thousands of people across the UK made it count by adding their initiatives on http://fortnight.fairtrade.org.uk/learn-more/#breakfast-map showing they care about the farmers and workers who grow our food.
Colleagues from the Fairtrade Steering Group in Luton attended a special Fairtrade Breakfast
In Luton, the Fairtrade Fortnight saw again a series of initiatives around the town pushed by GRASSROOTS and Luton Council of Faiths for people to have morning Fairtrade Breakfast or Lunch at work. The Fairtrade Town group also Joined in a Fairtrade Breakfast held by Harpenden Fairtrade in Cornelia’s Coffee Shop, St Nichloas Church Halls, Harpenden, AL5 2TP. A range of activities were also organised by the University of Bedfordshire with a Fairtrade themed Film Screening and a social media campaign with students taking selfies and tweeting with Fairtrade products to promote Fairtarde within the University network(s).
While we ask people to support Fairtrade during Fairtrade Fortnight, we are actually encouraging people to make Fairtrade a part of their daily life routines. So please remember, if you’re grabbing a Fairtrade coffee on the go, munching on your Fairtrade muesli at work, sipping a Fairtrade cuppa at home or enjoying a Big Fairtrade Breakfast or meal with friends and family or in your community - it is all doing justice to farmers and workers by thinking globally and acting locally. To find out more about Fairtrade please visit the Fairtrade Foundation website.