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Oxfam Launches Banana Campaign

Oxfam today (13 November) launches a campaign calling on UK supermarkets to stock a new type of banana from the Caribbean. This comes at a time when the whole of the Caribbean banana industry is under threat and in the week when the US warned that it will impose sanctions on European goods because it wants an end to the European Union's special trading relationship with Caribbean banana farmers.

Fair trade bananas (where the producers get a better deal) are already popular in Europe, but yet to be seen in UK high streets. Although they could be vital for the survival of tens of thousands of workers in the Caribbean, supermarkets are nervous about stocking the fruit, as they are unsure about the demand. Oxfam is calling on consumers to write to supermarkets promising to buy fair trade bananas and is convinced that they will be as successful with UK shoppers as fair trade tea, coffee and chocolate. The campaign is launched as part of Oxfam's annual Fast, taking place today.

The international banana trade is dominated by a handful of US-owned multinational companies, operating vast plantations, against whom the small scale banana producers in the Caribbean Windward Islands (St Lucia, St Vincent & The Grenadines, Grenada and Dominica) are struggling to compete. A further blow was dealt to the region when the World Trade Organisation (after a complaint led by the US Government) ruled that the EU must change its 20 year trading agreement with the region.

"Caribbean bananas account for just three per cent of the world trade in the fruit. Yet the pressure exerted by US multinationals, intent on monopolising the market, is unbearable. These farmers face a very uncertain future without a guaranteed market for their produce," says Ian Chandler, Oxfam's Campaigns Manager.

The charity has been working with producers in the Windward Islands for a number of years, helping them to develop their business skills and find new markets for their produce as well as investigating ways of reducing the islands' dependence on bananas.

Oxfam GB News Release - 12 Nov 1998

Source oxfam.org.uk

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