Fairtrade documentary shot in SVG for Irish TV

Windward Islands Farmers Association (WINFA) Coordinator Renrick Rose’s recent trip to Ireland to promote the banana business seems to be paying off already, even though he visited less than a month ago.

A two-man team from TV 3 in Ireland, along with a fair trade director are in St Vincent and the Grenadines filming a documentary on banana farming and Fairtrade activities here.{{more}}

Last Thursday, TV 3 reporter Dimitri O’Donnell and cameraman Conan Doyle visied banana farms in Spring Village in North Leeward to film and interview farmers. They also visited a pre-school in the area that benefited from chairs and a gate that the Social Premium Fund provided. “In Ireland we spend nine million Euros every year on Fairtrade products so we are here to promote its impact here and its importance to farmers to build markets in Ireland”, ODonnell said. Doyle said that St Vincent is a beautiful country with hardworking people.

Fairtrade Director Peter Gayner told SEARCHLIGHT “We are here to do a documentary about farmers

and the benefits of the premium fund in the islands and hope that people will go to the store and buy bananas”. “We are hoping to get stores like Dunn and Tesco to do a lot more”, he further stated.

Fairtrade was established in 1989 in Europe by Non Governmental organizations (NGOs) including church groups as an independent guarantee to consumers so that they can see that their money benefits poor, small farmers. A Social premium fund was established to fund community and social programs in the farming communities. Fairtrade also markets tea, coffee, cocoa, fruit juices, sugar and cotton.