Nick Herbert congratulates Pulborough on Fairtrade status
Arundel & South Downs MP Nick Herbert joined Pulborough residents on Saturday evening to celebrate the village’s new Fairtrade status.
The Fairtrade barn dance at Pulborough Village Hall on Saturday 22 September saw more than 100 people of all ages come together to celebrate the award.
Fairtrade labels appear on products as an independent guarantee that disadvantaged producers in the developing world are getting a better deal. Producer organisations that supply Fairtrade products receive a minimum price that covers the cost of sustainable production and an extra premium that is invested in social or economic development projects.
Pulborough was the first village in West Sussex to be granted the status for its work in promoting Fairtrade products.
Between music from the Kingfisher Ceilidh Band and the Kelland Brothers Folk Singers, Gerald Batt, the Chairman of the Pulborough Fairtrade Group, congratulated the Parish Council and the local community for its concern for those in the developing world and their work in supporting them through Fairtrade.
Mr Batt said: "The award was given by the Fairtrade Foundation in recognition of the work going on in the village to promote Fairtrade products - products that support workers in the developing world who produce those things we enjoy on a daily basis but do not produce ourselves, such as tea, coffee, sugar and chocolate."
Nick Herbert, who as Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global TB has a keen interest in the developing world, added his congratulations to the village.
He highlighted how over one billion people - one in six people across the globe - live in extreme poverty or on less than $1 a day and millions die of treatable diseases.
The MP pointed out that Africa's share of world trade was only 2 per cent and that the proportion had fallen by two thirds over the past two decades. He said that there was "massive trade discrimination" by the West against developing countries through high tariff barriers and a refusal to allow them access to markets in the developed world.
Mr Herbert said: "Against this discrimination, Fairtrade has become a beacon of hope, a powerful means by which we as individuals can help producers in developing countries to receive a fair deal.
"I congratulate Pulborough on achieving Fairtrade status and signalling that the local community cares about the lives of those who are so much less fortunate than ourselves."
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Notes for Editors
1. Further information about Fairtrade can be found at http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/.