Shoppers have sent more than 100,000 emails to Asda and Tesco stores asking them to switch their banana offering to Fairtrade, the Fairtrade Foundation has said.
And Fairtrade supporters dressed as bananas, and holding a five-metre inflatable banana decorated with the message ‘Go Fairtrade’, have campaigned outside stores in cities across the UK, and outside Asda’s Leeds HQ.
The organisation launched a new campaign last month to persuade the two top four retailers to choose certified banana lines. It claims that less than 10 per cent of the bananas sold by Asda and Tesco are currently Fairtrade certified.
And it said that more than eight in ten Asda and Tesco shoppers would pay more for their bananas if the workers who produced them would benefit.
But both supermarkets have claimed that their banana procurement and supply chains have higher or equivalent standards than the Fairtrade certification. Asda said that its banana lines are fairly traded, while Tesco said it pays its banana workers on average six per cent more than the Fairtrade minimum price.
Head of campaigns at the Fairtrade Foundation, Jonathan Smith, said that since the start of the campaign Tesco has made some new public commitments about its banana sourcing, including a pledge to pay living wages to workers on banana plantations by 2017.
“However, we are still waiting for commitment to independent verification. This is what the UK public are calling for, and what we believe is vital in order to protect the interests of both farmers and workers in the developing world, and shoppers here in the UK,” he said.
“Shoppers across the UK are sending a clear message to Asda and Tesco – they want an independent assurance that banana farmers and workers are not paying the price for their cheap fruit,” said Smith.
Smith added that the campaign has heard “nothing of substance” from Asda.
The Fairtrade Foundation said the typical retail price for bananas is 68p per kilo, compared with £1.08 in 2002, which adjusted for inflation is equivalent to £1.40 today.
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