Belfast Zoo goes wild for Caribbean Fairtrade Bananas

Belfast, NORTHERN IRELAND: Fairtrade bananas from St Vincent and the Grenadines were the dish of the day for some very lucky ring-tailed lemurs at Belfast Zoo.{{more}} The donation, courtesy of the Consulate of St Vincent and the Grenadines to Northern Ireland, brought Caribbean sunshine and media attention during the launch of Fairtrade Fortnight 2014.

The campaign for 2014 focuses on bananas and the necessity to pay producers in countries such as the Windward Islands a fair price for their harvests, by having supermarkets stop unsustainable pricing policies that are endangering developing world farmers’ livelihoods.

Dr Christopher Stange, Hon. Consul for St Vincent and the Grenadines to Northern Ireland and chair of Fairtrade Belfast said: “St Vincent farmers have been hit twice with Hurricane Tomas and then Black Sigatoka. Bananas are an important part of the economy and fabric of life, including Fairtrade exports. The SVG Consulate has increased the supply chain to Northern Ireland, recently being appointed the Secretariat of the All Party Group on Fairtrade at Stormont Parliament, to facilitate the campaign to make Northern Ireland a Fairtrade country. This initiative will dramatically increase procurement, supply volume and market expansion of Fairtrade commodities for farmers.”

Belfast Zoo, which is owned by the Belfast City Council, is investigating sourcing Fairtrade produce for its animals when the tender comes up for renewal, as over 70,000 bananas are used annually at this single location.