Slovakian consumers urged to consider benefits of fair trade products
“It is necessary to realise that our consumer behaviour has a significant impact on the lives of people in developing countries,” said Klára Tóthová of the Slovak Centre for Communication and Development (SCKR), as quoted by the TASR newswire.
People should be interested in whether the food or products from developing countries were grown or made in fair conditions, and not in companies that employ children, she added.
Following the invitation of non-governmental organisations, the SCKR and CEEV Živica, the promoters of Fair Trade production from Ecuador arrived in Slovakia in late May. Fabiola Ramón and Lianne Zoeteweij represent El Guabo, the association of small producers of bananas who follow fair trade principles. It currently has 125 member companies that export bananas to Europe, the US, New Zealand and Canada.
“We enabled our members to improve the quality of growing, to increase their yields and also make a return on their fruit,” Ramón and Zoeteweij said, as quoted by TASR.
Thanks to this, the lives of the producers have improved and their future is not as insecure as it was, they added.
source: spectator.sme.sk
