7:57pm Saturday 7th March 2009
By Michael Pickard
FAIRTRADE Fortnight came to a close in The Galleria today, where members of the local steering group encouraged shoppers to support producers in developing countries.
Will David, Margaret Bone and Gill Pinfold, all members of the Welwyn Hatfied Fairtrade Steering Group, manned a stall in the hope to raise awareness of Fairtrade products sold in shops and supermarkets.
Children took part in pancake tossing using Fairtrade chocolate, sugar and lemons, while others tried their hand at potato printing and a banana quiz.
The Steering Group began five years ago and has worked to establish Hatfield and Welwyn as a Fairtrade borough.
And last year more than £700million was spent on Fairtrade products in the UK in 2008, £200million more than the previous year.
Will said: “It's driven by demand. The more people want to buy, the more shops will sell.
“One of the things you keep hearing about in the credit crunch is inequality has grown. People who suffer with that is people in developing countries and Fairtrade is trying to help them. Some of those people spent 70 per cent of their income on food, and now it's gone up to 100 per cent. When food doubles in price, for them it's massive.
“The main message is shops need to stock more and people need to buy more to make it really work.”
The Steering Group is also staging a poster competition for local schools.
For more information and for details about the competition, visit welwynhatfieldfairtrade.org.uk.
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