Leading lights of the Fairtrade movement from across the globe met for the first time last week to discuss the way forward for their company.

AgroFair banana growers from Costa Rica, Ecuador and Ghana, mango farmers from Ecuador and Burkina Faso, and pineapple growers from Costa Rica came together in London to discuss quality control, increasing sales and export capacity.

Their AgroFair colleagues from the UK, the Netherlands and Italy joined them in the capital.

AgroFair chiefs say the firm is the only company to sell 100 per cent of its fruit to the UK – a market bountiful enough to give producers the returns they need.

AgroFair board member Jorge Ramirez, a Ecuadorian banana grower, said: 'With AgroFair we earn money by receiving a fair deal for our fruit and we also receive some of the company's profits. We get a fair price, a fair say and a fair share.' The AgroFair Assistance and Development initiative to help existing producers develop their businesses was also agreed at the London summit.

Pictured left to right are Luis Román, mango grower from Ecuador, Bernardo Jaén, pineapple producer from Costa Rica, Jan Castle, Sales and Marketing Manager of AgroFair UK and Anthony Blay, banana farmer from Ghana.

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