Middlesbrough Fairtrade Town is hosting a special guest from Colombia on Friday 4th March 2016 to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight and the difference Fairtrade makes around the world.
Luz Marina Garcia Ruiz, a certification manager at Asprocafe Ingruma Coffee Cooperative, Colombia, will meet with the local community at the BIG North East Fairtrade Celebration as part of the Fairtrade Foundation’s annual producer tour.
BIG North East Fairtrade Celebration – Friday 4th March 2016
FREE
16.00 – 18.00
The Hub, Teesside University Students’ Union, Borough Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BA.
Representatives from across the region will be attending including the Elected Mayor of Middlesbrough Dave Budd, the Mayor of Sunderland Barry Curran and the Mayor of Gateshead Alex Geddes. Chief Operating Officer for the Fairtrade Foundation Mr Tim Gutteridge as well as Councillor Julia Rostron the Chair of the Middlesbrough Fairtrade Town Steering Group.
For more information or to book a place: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/big-north-east-fairtrade-celebration-tickets-20966549514?aff=eivtefrn
Asprocafe became Fairtrade certifyed in 1992 and currently works with 1,500 coffee farmers, 25% of whom are women.
Fairtrade has made a huge difference to the lives of the farmers in Asprocafe, their families and local communities by enabling them to earn a stable income and the Fairtrade Premium that they have invested in organic certification, technical training and to build classrooms roads around rural communities.
Fairtrade Fortnight 2016 aims to inspire people to hold a Fairtrade Breakfast and highlight the issue of food insecurity that small scale farmers are facing.
Despite working hard every day to grow the food many of us have for breakfast – coffee, tea, bananas and cocoa – millions of farmers don’t earn enough to know where their next meal is coming from.
500 million small-scale farmers produce 80% of the world’s food. Out of these, 400 million smallholder farmers are undernourished.
Coffee farmers in many countries in Central and Latin America face food insecurity for 3-4 months a year – a period, which they have come to name as the ‘thin months’, the months of the big stomach, season of hunger, or even the times of silence.
Fairtrade works with more than 1.5 million farmers and workers in developing nations enabling them to earn a sustainable income and the Fairtrade Premium that they can invest in vital community, business and environmental projects, including programmes addressing food insecurity.
Suggested quote for the group’s spokesperson
Councillor Julia Rostron the Chair of the Middlesbrough Fairtrade Town Steering Group said: “Fairtrade means many producers and workers are able to do what we take for granted – put enough food on the table for themselves and the people they care about, all year round. We have been a Fairtrade Town since 2007 and have learnt what difference it makes for world’s most vulnerable communities by making farming viable and generating vital economic benefits.
“We are inviting everyone in Middlesbrough to come down and listen to Marina’s compelling story.”
Luz Marina Garcia Ruiz said: “For me, Fairtrade is an opportunity to make dreams come true and improve living conditions for all the people involved in the production of coffee. Thanks to Fairtrade I was able to study and work for the wellbeing of my family and the small producers from my region.”
Adam Gardner, Communities Campaigns Manager for the Fairtrade Foundation said: “Farming is the backbone of the world. It’s simply wrong that the people who produce what we eat go hungry themselves.
“We hope that as many people as possible will support the Middlesbrough Fairtrade campaign this Fairtrade Fortnight and give Marina a warm welcome.”
You can find out more about Fairtrade Fortnight, and how to get involved in your local area, at fairtrade.org.uk/breakfast.