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Fairtrade Sugar Under Threat

                                                                                  Wednesday February 25, 2015

 

A new Fairtrade Foundation report published today (Wed) warns that that a reform of the EU sugar market could push thousands of sugar cane farmers into poverty.

Published to coincide with Fairtrade Fortnight, the report, Sugar Crash, says that the EU’s decision to lift the cap on EU sugar beet production by 2017 will mean that small-scale sugar cane farmers in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific and some of the world’s poorest countries including Malawi will struggle to compete with European sugar beet farmers who receive subsidies from the EU.

The move is supported by the UK Government and coincides with a world slump in sugar prices, which have halved over the last three years.

A spokeswoman for the Fairtrade Foundation said Scottish shoppers could play their part by asking local supermarkets to stock Fairtrade sugar.

She added: “There are people’s lives in our shopping baskets, and we don’t believe people would want to buy sugar that costs a penny or two less per bag, if they knew that the cost was hundreds of thousands of people being pushed into poverty.”

The report has been commissioned to mark Fairtrade Fortnight, which runs from February 23 to March 8.

The Fairtrade Foundation will also today (Wed) launch an urgent fundraising appeal to help farmers in Malawi rebuild communities, after homes and crops were destroyed by recent floods. The Foundation estimates that over 300,000 people have been displaced in Malawi, with over a million affected by the destruction of agriculture.

A new film, Fairtrade Matters, is at the centre of the campaign, which will be screened in cinemas from today.


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