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WINFA Makes Historic Breakthrough |
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20 March 2008
After over five decades in which Windward Island farmers have had no control over the marketing of their bananas, the farmers' organisation WINFA - with several thousand members in Saint Vincent, Saint Lucia, Dominica and Grenada - has signed a contract last week to sell bananas to a single marketing company WIBDECO.
This contract means that the intermediary companies in Dominica and St
Lucia and the parastatal Banana Growers' Association in St Vincent
cease their involvement in the industry. For the first time in the
history of the industry, it is the farmers through their national fair
trade organisations who now sell directly to an island-wide company
that markets all bananas in the UK market.
WIBDECO is 50% owned by the four governments, whilst the other 50% is
intended to be owned by the farmers themselves. Over 90% of the
industry is now Fairtrade certified, thanks to the vision of farmers
and the leadership of their organisation WINFA. At local level in St
Vincent, St Lucia and Dominica, farmers are organised into nearly 50
local farmers' groups. It is these groups that decide on how the
Fairtrade premium from each box is spent to improve the social,
economic and environmental situation in their communities.
Castries, 20th March 2008
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