Press Release
26 February 2007
International Development Secretary kick-starts national debate on ethical
shopping
Should products from developing countries be labelled with a white band so
customers know buying them helps to ‘make poverty history’? - Benn
 Should products from developing countries be labelled with a white band so
customers know buying them helps to ‘make poverty history’ – a question posed by
International Development Secretary Hilary Benn, as he kick-started a national
debate about ethical shopping, in Bristol on Monday.
Speaking at the launch of ‘ Fairtrade Fortnight’, a national campaign to
encourage shoppers to ask for and buy Fairtrade products at local shops and
supermarkets, International Development Secretary Hilary Benn said:
“I’m pleased to be in Bristol – a leading Fairtrade city, where people
can buy a range of fairtrade goods from coffee and beer to fruit and
footballs.
“Today, over 90% of the fruit and a third of the vegetables we eat are
imported. UK shoppers spend over £1 million a day on fruit and vegetables
from Africa – helping a million African farmers and their families to do it
for themselves."
“The ‘food miles’ debate poses a dilemma when we try to do our bit to
stop climate change. People ask, ‘should I only buy local and boycott
produce from abroad, especially things flown in, or should I support poor
farmers who are trying to work and trade their way out of poverty?
“Air-freight fruit and vegetables from Africa account for less than one
tenth of one percent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. We need to cut
our huge carbon footprint, not force Africa to cut its tiny one.
“I’m very pleased that Tesco and Marks and Spencer are starting to help
their customers understand more about what they are buying by labelling
products that are flown in to the UK with a symbol of a plane. But I don’t
think it’s enough. If these products contribute to ending poverty, maybe
they should put another symbol on too – a white band, the symbol of making
poverty history.
“When we make decisions on buying imported goods, we need to weigh up the
costs to the environment, but also the rights of people far poorer than us
to a decent life – faces we have never seen, names we do not know – their
right to be able to transform their lives because in the end that is what
development is all about.”
Joint DFID Derfa statement on the food miles debate
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Ten things you should know about ethical shopping:
 1.
Bristol is one of a handful of cities in the UK to be awarded ‘fairtrade
status’ as it has a track record of encouraging people to buy Fairtrade food and
goods – ranging from coffee and beer to fruit and footballs - ensuring farmers
and producers in poor parts of the world are getting a fairer price for their
hard work.
2. If a product carries the Fairtrade mark it means a producer in the developing
world will receive a minimum price that covers the cost of production and a
premium that is invested in the local community.
3. Fairtrade Fortnight is an annual event designed to raise awareness for
ethical shopping in the UK. This year it is being marked between 26 Feb – 11
March.
4. From 2002-2007 the UK’s Department for International Development has given
more than £1 million to the
Fairtrade
Foundation to help it extend and promote the famous Fairtrade mark which now
appears on thousands of products.
5. The UK believes fairtrade marking is one way to promote trade from the
developing world and help poor farmers and producers.
6. There are lots of products on the market that have been grown by poor farmers
around the world – even though they are not Fairtrade products.
7. But African farmers have to compete with farm subsidies. Rich country
subsidies are worth more than 4 times overseas aid. While the European Union has begun to
reform, the Common Agricultural Policy – the CAP - it still costs UK households
around £800 a year in taxes and more expensive food.
8. The Government is committed to concluding the Doha trade talks this year as a
deal would deliver gains to the global economy approaching $200 billion by 2015.
9. Air-freight fruit and vegetables from Africa account for less than one tenth
of one percent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.
10. People living in the vast majority of African countries are responsible for
a tiny amount of carbon emissions. In
Kenya, these are 200 kg a head; here it is
fifty times that.
Three things you can do today to make poverty history:
1. Buy food and clothes with the fairtrade label. The extra pence that you
pay goes towards improving healthcare, schools and providing clean water in
developing countries.
2. Try to find out where your food comes from. Will buying their chocolate or
vegetables help them put their children into school or prevent their parents
dying from AIDS? Most food says where it’s from. And you can be sure that
somewhere down the line a farmer or farm worker will be depending on you to buy
their produce
3. Tell all your family and friends!
For further information and details of the work that DFID does please contact
DFID Press Office on 020 7023 0600, e-mail
pressoffice@dfid.gov.uk or call our
Public Enquiries Point on 0845 300 4100
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