As part of Suffolk’s Fairtrade fortnight (9th - 22nd October), our Year 5 class signed into a zoom call with a Fairtrade farmer from Kenya on Wednesday 13th October. Please see link for more information. http://www.suffolkfairtrade.org.uk/kenya_link.html

Patrick Kaberia (The Kenyan Farmer) taught us what Fairtrade is about: better prices, reasonable working conditions and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers.  

Buying Fairtrade products ensures that producers are receive a fair price for their goods – and there is also a ‘social premium’ which goes towards providing community facilities such as clean water, building schools and repairing roads.

Patrick continued to speak about his co-op, his tea, the benefits of Fairtrade to workers, climate change and its effects on workers and steps being taken to mitigate the effects of climate change. He stated that due to the increasing hours of sunshine, he had to plant large trees as barriers to provide shade and wind protection to his tea nursery.

Patrick showed us his extensive tea plantation and shocked us with how long a tea bag takes to grow, picked and make. It then gets transported and shipped into our shops, this process from ground to cup can take anywhere from 3 to 6 months!!

Some of Year 5 have recently spotted the fair-trade symbols on their foods provided in their lunchboxes and spotted the items in the shops. It really sparked some reflective discussions, and we will now consider what we buy in order to support the communities who need us most!