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Ilkley Fairtrade Fortnight quiz and activities, 2020

 

Ilkley Fairtrade Group is getting ready for Fairtrade Fortnight, which this year runs from Monday 24 February to Sunday 8 March, and is once again focusing on living incomes for cocoa farmers. See www.fairtrade.org.uk.  The group’s main activity is a town-wide quiz with a prize of delicious and ethical Fairtrade chocolate bars. The quiz is designed to highlight the plight of many cocoa farmers who live in extreme poverty, despite the UK chocolate industry being worth at least £4 billion a year. The average cocoa farmer in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, where 60 percent of all cocoa is grown, earns less than 75p a day. The poverty line is around £1.40 per day.

 

The quiz has two easy questions, and the answers can be found in special Fairtrade Foundation ‘storybombs’, which the Fairtrade Group has been busy distributing round Ilkley. The storybombs tell the stories of Therese and Edith, Fairtrade cocoa farmers in Cote d’Ivoire. The storybombs will be in ‘plain sight’ in lots of locations during Fairtrade Fortnight – simply track one down, read the stories inside to find the answers, and email these, together with your name, to ilkleyfairtradegroup@gmail.com.

 

The questions are:  ‘What can Therese’s children do, which she couldn’t?’ and ‘What did Edith set up’? The black storybombs are shown in the photo taken at Ilkley’s Oxfam Bookshop, which is one of many locations where they can be found. Other locations include The Grove Bookshop, the library, the Manor House, Dan’s Den, Clip and Climb, Christchurch Cafe, Oxfam shop and both Co-op stores. All correct answers will be placed in a draw and a winner chosen at random. Closing date 8th March.

 

Karen Palframan, chair of Ilkley Fairtrade Group, commented, “We hope the quiz will provide a bit of fun, whilst highlighting serious issues. It’s appalling that millions of farmers in the developing world live in poverty and don’t earn a living income. To make matters worse, climate change is also threatening their livelihoods. More frequent droughts, wet seasons and weather extremes are hitting production and causing plant diseases. Fairtrade certification standards and training are helping to find solutions and achieve economic, social and environmental sustainability for farmers, as well as assistance for their communities”. The Fairtrade standards and climate change mitigation information can be found on the Fairtrade International website: www.fairtrade.net

 

There will be several opportunities to learn more about Fairtrade during Fairtrade Fortnight and beyond. Ilkley Fairtrade Group members will be at Ilkley Manor House on 29th February and 1st March from 11am – 4pm.  There will be children’s Fairtrade activities and a pop-up Fairtrade stall selling Traidcraft products, Skipton ‘From the Source’ clothing items and Whitakers new Fairtrade chocolate bars.  Oxfam is offering a 20% discount on Fairtrade food and drink until 10th March.

 

Christchurch, which is a Fairtrade church, is running one of the community stalls at the Real Food Ilkley market on 1st March, and will have Fairtrade information and storybombs, as well as showcasing some of the Traidcraft items that are for sale in the church foyer between and after morning services on the 1st Sunday of the month.

 

The Flying Duck pub is hosting a special Fairtrade-themed curry night on Thursday 5th March, 6.30-8pm. Fairly traded Malawian JTS Kilombero rice will be served with a choice of curries. Every 90kg of JTS rice sold funds a year of secondary school education for a child in Malawi, and profits from the night will be used to buy ploughs for women farmers in Malawi. Contact the Flying duck to book a place or visit the pop-up Fairtrade stall at the Manor House event. Suggested price £5.00.

 

Ilkley Fairtrade Group has endorsed the draft Ilkley Sustainability Plan (ISP), and members will be providing Fairtrade information at Climate Action Ilkley’s public ISP meeting on Saturday 14th March, 10.30am – 12.30pm at the Clarke Foley Centre. Karen added “we are very proud that Ilkley has been a Fairtrade town since 2006 and there is so much support to make trade work for everyone. We need more cafes, shops and businesses to get involved however, and to offer and use Fairtrade products such as tea, coffee, sugar and chocolate; not forgetting bananas and wine. Please contact us by email, or via our Ilkley Fairtrade Facebook page, to find out more - and good luck with the storybomb quiz!”