Twenty-five of Bristol’s leading women sat down for breakfast and stood up for farmers at a special Fairtrade breakfast to celebrate International Women’s Day.
The women were joined by Ana Maria Gonzalez, a coffee farmer with the Fairtrade SOPPEXXCA Co-op in Nicaragua.
The event, staged at ethical bank Triodos’ Bristol head office, shone a light on the challenges faced by millions of farmers and workers who produce the food we eat, but struggle to feed themselves and their families.
According to Fairtrade, up to 500m small-scale farmers produce 80% of the world’s food. Of these smallholders, 400m are undernourished.
The women chose International Women’s Day – and the fact that it falls with Fairtrade Fortnight – to come together to call on the public to wake up to the challenges faced by smallholder farmers in developing nations.
Among those at the breakfast were Lord Mayor of Bristol Claire Campion-Smith, Liz Zeidler, Chair at Bristol Green Capital Partnership and Bristol Fairtrade Co-ordinator Jenny Foster.
Jenny said: “Farming is the backbone of the world. It’s simply wrong that whilst farmers work hard to produce what we eat so many of them should go hungry themselves.
“When people are paid a fair price, they can have more control over their lives when times are hard, and worry less about how they will feed their families.
“Fairtrade is still vital and today we’re calling on shoppers and businesses to help ensure world’s most vulnerable famers and workers have enough food all year round.”
Coffee farmers in Central and Latin America face food insecurity for three to four months a year. The seasonal hunger is so endemic that farming communities have come to name the period as the ‘thin months’, the months of the big stomach, season of hunger, or even the times of silence.
Fairtrade works with more than 1.5m farmers and workers in parts of Africa, Asia and Latin and Central America enabling them to earn a sustainable income. Payment of the Fairtrade Premium means they can invest in vital community, business and environmental projects, including programmes addressing food insecurity and women’s rights.
Ana Maria Gonzales Narvaez said: “Fairtrade enables women to have equal access to training and education. We can send our children to school and ensure our daughters are now learning about farming.”
For more on Fairtrade contact Jenny Foster at Bristolfairtradenetwork@gmail.com, 07970 878337
Pictured at the Fairtrade and International Women’s Day breakfast, front row from left:Jenny Foster, Bristol and SW Fairtrade Co-ordinator, Paola Aceto, Bristol Fairtrade Ambassador, Jane Thompson, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Bristol, Rhian Sherrington, Director, Women in Sustainability, Ana Maria Gonzalez, Fairtrade coffee and cocoa producer from Nicaragua, Claire Campion-Smith, Lord Mayor of Bristol, Madeleine Taylor, UK Programmes Manager, Earth Champions, Rebecca Pritchard, Head of Business Banking, Triodos Bank, and Jill Ford, Bristol Fairtrade volunteer. Back row: Anna Guyer, Founder, Greenhouse PR, Kalpna Woolf, Director, 91 Ways, Jessica Gitsham, Sales and Marketing manager, Natracare, Natalie Fee, Broadcaster, Amy Robinson, Business Development Manager, Triodos Bank, Savita Custead, Chief Exec, Natural History Consortium, Jose Sluis-Doyle, Chief Exec, African Initiatives, Kat Gulyas, Bristol Fairtrade Ambassador, Peaches Golding OBE, Principal Consultant, Moon Consulting, Shankari Raj, Founder, Nudge Group, Vicki Long, Trustee, Avon Riding Centre, Faye Holst, Greenhouse PR, Amelia Twine, Director, Eat Drink Bristol Fashion, Elise Bradley, Youth Mayor of Bristol, Clare Corrigan, Youth Mayor PR, and Ruth Pitter, manager, VOSCUR. Copyright Jo Hansford
