Welcome

Welcome to this issue of Green Kids where we take a look at fair trade and what it means. Fair trade is all about making sure the people that grow or make the things we buy get paid a fair price for their work. Often it is the people far away who grow foods, such as cocoa beans for your bar of chocolate, who are the ones who get the worst deal from what you buy. We discovered how choosing fairtrade products helps farmers in the developing world.

Contents:

3 All about fairtrade 4 From bean to bar 6 Your letters 7 In the kitchen 8 Puzzles and jokes

fac tYou can even buy fa irtra dejean s an dfoot balls

What is fairtra de? Farmers in the devel oping worl d wh o grow ou r tea, coc oa, banan as and more are often ver y poor. Th ey strug gle to surv ive within a system of worl d trade th at is not fa ir. Fairtra de mea ns paying farmers a fair price for the work that t hey do. It also mean s guarant eeing this price so th at they wil l always receive th e same a mount no matter how low the market pric e goes.

Go

Bananas

After a long campaign

organised b y Oxfam,

supermarke ts have sta rted

selling Fair trade banan as.

These bana nas cost a bit more

than other b ananas, bu t by

buying them you know

that the peo ple who

grew them get a good

deal. That m ust be wor th

the extra ca sh!

Editor Melissa Corkhill Design Jez Harris. Green Kids is printed on recycled paper using vegetable based inks. To write to us: Green Kids, PO Box 104, Lewes, BN7 9AX Tel: 01825 872858 Website: www.thegreenparent.co.uk With thanks to www.divinechocolate.com for their help Ways to support fairtrade

Look out for products carrying the Fairtrade Mark when out shopping. Choosing tea, chocolate, fruit and juice that are fairtrade ensures that farmers in the developing world are being paid a fair price for their work.

Have a family Fairtrade breakfast and try and source fairtrade products such as cereal, fruit and juice.

Find out if there are any fairtrade shops in your local area. Try bafts.org to find your nearest fairtrade shop.

Ask at your school or youth group whether they would consider becoming fairtrade and stocking only fairly traded goods.

Did you know: We spend over £4 billion per year on chocolate! Less than 1% of these sales are for Fairtrade products.

fact

It’s not just food tha t

you can buy, you ca n

also buy fairtrade to ys

like these skittles,

which are

handmade in

Sri Lanka

Fairtrade is not about charity – if people are paid a fair price for their work, they don’t need charity.

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