Fairtrade News « Thurles Information

Fairtrade Products From Palestine Launched In Ireland

Fairtrade-comp Pictured here is Gerard O’Hara, Thurles Fairtrade Town committee, presenting competition winner Jerry Comerford, Templetuohy, Thurles Co.Tipperary with a Fairtrade hamper, accompanied by Noel Kennedy member of Thurles Fairtrade Town committee.

Meanwhile the first Fairtrade Certified products from Palestine were launched in Ireland recently. Zaytoun’s range of organic and Fairtrade Certified Olive Oils are the first FAIRTRADE Mark products of their kind, and the Zaytoun company hopes the Fairtrade link will open up new markets for marginalised Palestinian producers in the West Bank and Gaza regions.

Current political circumstances mean that Palestinian producers are only accessing less than a quarter of their EU 2000-tonne-a-year quota for olive oil. Fairtrade campaigners say the launch of the Zaytoun Fairtrade olive oil brand will help create a viable, long-term market for thousands of Palestinian farmers while the Fairtrade premium will also help farmers modernise and expand their production.

Nasser Abufarha, an olive oil producer and chairman of the Palestinian Fairtrade Association which represents over 1,700 farmers and producers stated:

“Gaining access to markets in the west for Zaytoun olive oil is a very important step forward for our producers. We are very proud that Zaytoun is the first olive oil product in the world to achieve Fairtrade certification. We also hope that this launch will focus attention on Palestine as a place of agricultural production and highlight the difficulties Palestinian farmers face in getting their produce to domestic and international markets”.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Commits To Going Fairtrade.

cashel-community-school The finale of Fairtrade Fortnight 2009 was a huge success! From noon Friday 6th March to noon Saturday 7th March over 30,000 people all over Ireland ate a Fairtrade Banana and helped to set the world record in conjunction with the other countries across Europe. Helping achieve this record were pupils from the Community School here in Cashel Co.Tipperary.

cadbury During Fairtrade Fortnight Cadbury and Fairtrade Mark Ireland announced plans to achieve Fairtrade certification for Cadbury Dairy Milk, the country’s top selling chocolate bar, by the end of Summer 2009.
Anne Sawbridge, managing director of Cadbury Ireland, stated

“We are proud to make this announcement, which builds on our heritage of working with our supply chain to ensure the quality of life of farmers in the communities in which they live. By working in partnership with Fairtrade Mark Ireland, we are going to ensure more people in Ireland buy Fairtrade products and we look forward to achieving more together than we ever could individually.”

This groundbreaking move will result in the tripling of sales of cocoa under Fairtrade terms for cocoa farmers in Ghana, both increasing Fairtrade cocoa sales for existing certified farming groups, as well as opening up new opportunities for thousands more farmers to benefit from the Fairtrade system. This move will represent a 45% increase in Fairtrade sales in Ireland.

Fairtrade Visit To Ursuline Primary School.

fair-trade-ursuline All across Ireland, students and teachers are raising awareness and availability of products with the FAIRTRADE Mark.

A Fairtrade School is one that has made a commitment to supporting and using Fairtrade. They ensure that Fairtrade products are available in their canteen, tuck shop, staff room and vending machine. They raise awareness of Fairtrade and the benefits that it brings to producers in developing countries.
The recent visit to the Ursuline primary school by the Fairtrade team with guest of honour John Nuwagaba was organised to promote Fairtrade Fortnight and the positive benefits of changing purchasing behaviour to guarantee a better deal for third world producers.

Pictured are; (back row) Catherine Reynolds (Acting Principal, Ursuline Primary School) and Laurenz Egan (Thurles Fairtrade Town Committee). Seated; (Left to right) John Nuwagaba (Ankole Coffee Co-op, Uganda) Sister Mercedes (Ursuline Community Thurles), Dunstan Burke (Fairtrade Mark Ireland), Rita Kenny (Visiting teacher) and Catherine Corcoran (Thurles Fairtrade Town Committee).

Fairtrade – Visit Gaelscoil Durlas Éile.

gaelscoildurlaseile Fairtrade is the people’s movement for change that aims to tip the balance of trade in favour of poor producers. Fairtrade is needed more than ever and we all have the power to create positive change for both people and planet.

Speaking at Gaelscoil Durlas Éile today to a large audience on the benefits of supporting Fairtrade, Dunstan Burke from Fairtrade Mark Ireland stated:-

“Two billion people – a third of humanity – still survive on less than $2 a day. Unfair trade keeps them in this poverty, but they face the global challenges of food shortages and climate change too”.

Pictured here are staff from Gaelscoil Durlas Éile with members of the Thurles Fairtrade Town Committee including Dunstan Burke from Fairtrade Mark Ireland and guest of honour John Nuwagaba, general manager from the Ankole coffee co-operative in Uganda.

The event was organised as part of the Thurles Fairtrade Fortnight Awareness 2009 campaign.

So come on folks, share in Fairtrade Fortnight 2009 and play your part by joining a powerful global movement for real change!

Busy Schedule Planned for Thurles – Ugandan Fairtrade Coffee Producer Visits This Week

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Thurles warmly welcomes Mr. John Nuwagaba, General Manager of the Ankole Coffee Producers Cooperative Union Ltd (ACPCU) on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th February as part of a 14-day tour of 17 Fairtrade Towns in Ireland during Fairtrade Fortnight, February 23rd – March 9th.

Mr Nuwagaba has a degree in economics and political science and a post graduate diploma in management. As the General Manager, Mr. Nuwugaba is responsible for the day to day running of the ACPCU co-op. The objectives of the ACPCU co-op include enabling members to have more control of their coffee business and increasing the income of the majority of farmers by adding value to the product.

The ACPCU co-op is located in the southwest of Uganda, which is the tenth largest coffee producing country in the world. 80% of the population (31m.) are involved in agriculture and the major exports are coffee, tea, tobacco, cotton and textiles. Life expectancy in Uganda is 50 years and the adult literacy rate is 67%.

During his visit to Thurles, Mr. Nuwagaba will talk to 400 school children at the Ursuline Convent Primary School and Gaelscoil Durlas Eile and explain to them how Fairtrade helps the lives of the Co-op’s 6,600 smallholder coffee growers. These schools are two of the fourteen schools in Thurles that are including Fairtrade materials in the 08/09 curriculum.

On the morning of Saturday 28th, Mr. Nuwagaba will visit the Thurles Farmers Market to meet the local growers and producers who sell their own food produce direct to the public. In the same way that Farmers’ Markets give local producers the opportunity to sell their goods directly to consumers, Fairtrade helps to establish more direct links between small producers in the developing world who are growing the foods that we eat every day and us, the consumer.

To mark the occasion of his visit and to celebrate that Farmers Markets in Ireland are in common cause with Fairtrade producers overseas, Mr. Nuwagaba will plant two Tipperary heritage apple trees in the grounds of Tipperary Institute.

During his four day visit to Tipperary, Mr. Nuwagaba will also visit the Farmers’ Markets in Cahir and Clonmel, give public talks in Roscrea, Nenagh, Tipperary Town and Carrick on Suir, meet the Fairtrade committee in Templemore and attend the celebrations in Cashel for achieving Fairtrade Town status.

Other Fairtrade events in Thurles include: A screening of the remarkable documentary ‘Black Gold-Wake Up and Smell the Coffee’ to business students in Tipperary Institute on Tuesday 24th February at 6.30pm; A guaranteed good night out at the annual Fairtrade Table Quiz in Skehan’s Liberty Square on Friday 6th March at 8.30pm. For further information and to book a table in the Quiz (Note €40 per team of 4) call our Secretary on 0504-26488.