Bananas factfile
| Commodity |
Bananas
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| Country | Colombia is a South American country with a population of 51,3 million. Fairtrade commodities from Colombia include coffee, bananas, fruit, and cocoa.
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| Background information | Bananas are the staple food for millions of people around the world and the UK’s most popular fruit.
Bananas are grown both on small family farms and much larger commercial farms in tropical regions.
The banana industry provides employment for thousands of people in Colombia.
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| Social issues | Neither smallholder banana farmers nor banana plantation workers earn enough for a decent standard of living.
Smallholder banana farmers struggle to compete with large plantations.
Retailers are estimated to take around 30-40% of the value from banana sales, while farmers take around 10%. |
| Environmental issues | Climate change is putting the livelihoods of banana farmers at risk.
Unpredictable weather patterns, rising temperatures, hurricanes, droughts, and floods are some of the effects of climate change.
Because of climate change pests and diseases that affect bananas are also spreading much faster.
Pesticides used contaminate the surrounding areas and waterways.
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| Why is Fairtrade important?
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Fairtrade works with banana farmers and workers and with the banana trade to ensure people get a decent price and decent pay for the hard labour that goes into growing this crop.
Bananas carrying the FAIRTRADE Mark have been produced by small farmer organisations or plantations that meet the Fairtrade social, economic and environmental standards.
The standards include protection of workers’ rights and the environment and payment of the Fairtrade Minimum Price and an additional Fairtrade Premium to invest in business, environmental or community projects of their choice.
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| Where to buy Fairtrade bananas | Abel & Cole, Aldi, Amazon, Asda, Booths, Co-op, Greggs, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Nisa, Ocado, Riverford, Sainsbury’s, Spar, Starbucks, Tesco, Waitrose. |