Portsmouth goes bananas for Fairtrade Fortnight
| AS PART of Fairtrade Fortnight, Portsmouth City Council is running activities and will have food with a Fairtrade flavour at Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery, from Tuesday, March 7, to Sunday, March 12. |
| Children visiting the museum can spot various Fairtrade items within the collections to win a bar of chocolate or a banana. The museum’s café will also be promoting items that include Fairtrade products and there will be a free banana with every café purchase while stocks last.
Fairtrade Fortnight 2023, from February 27 to March 12, highlights the links between Fairtrade and climate change and is raising awareness that buying Fairtrade can help farmers diversity their crops and move towards more climate-friendly farming methods. The Fairtrade bananas are being provided by Primafruit Ltd which is pleased to help promote Fairtrade across the city. The bananas being given away were actually imported into the UK through Portico’s cargo terminal, based in Portsmouth. Portsmouth has a strong connection to the nation’s favourite lunchbox filler. Over 50 percent of the UK’s bananas are imported through Portico, and on average it moves 1,300 pallets of Fairtrade bananas from ship to shore every week. If all those pallets were lined up in a row, it would be as long as 139 buses. Councillor Steve Pitt, Portsmouth City Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture, said: “With the huge amount of Fairtrade products that are coming through our very own port, it’s important we celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight here in Portsmouth. “Climate change is making crops harder to grow and switching to Fairtrade can help protect the future of Fairtrade products such as coffee, bananas and chocolate.” Residents are reminded a lot of the independent shops within Portsmouth sell Fairtrade products, so are encouraged to shop local for Mother’s Day, find out more at https://rediscoverportsmouth.co.uk/ Other activities going on in the city include: a Fairtrade breakfast at the Anglican Cathedral, talks to community and faith groups at Havelock community centre, a Fairtrade film on the Big Screen in Guildhall Square, a stall at the International Women’s Day event at the Oasis Church in Arundel Street and the Lord Mayor’s coffee morning. To find out more about Fairtrade and events taking place, visit https://campaign.exchange/2023/01/24/fairtrade-fortnight-2023/ |
