Fairtrade Fortnight celebrations underway

Fairtrade Fortnight 2009 started this week with events around the country set to highlight the importance of buying fairtrade.

Bolton Wanderers football club has organised a banana eating event with 1,500 local schools.

Children from the schools will visit Bolton’s football stadium on 2 March and simultaneously eat Fairtrade bananas - raising Fairtrade awareness and aiming to break the world record for the largest number of people in one location eating a Fairtrade banana.

In Dumfries, Scotland, films are being shown on Fairtrade and global issues, and fairtrade producer Cornelius Lynch is being flown in from the Windward Islands to take part in events.

Dozens of events have been organised in Leeds, including a Taste and See morning, Fairtrade cafes, and talks on sustainable development.

Douglas, on the Isle of Man, will be celebrating with a day-long Fairtrade street party.

The Isle of Man was awarded the status of Fairtrade Island in June last year.

Oxford Brookes University, the first university in the UK to be awarded Fairtrade status, is hosting a Fairtrade football match using Fairtrade footballs.

What is Fairtrade?

Developed in Holland in the 1980s, the Fairtrade mark shows that producers in the majority world were paid a fair price for their produce, enabling them to make a living.

A premium on Fairtrade products allows producers to invest in social, environmental and economic projects in their local community.

Projects to be invested in are decided democratically by Fairtrade producers.