Working together to end poverty and injustice

Fairtrade bananas: way more a-peel-ing!

Many banana growers earn as little as NZ$3 a day.

A handful of multinational corporations dominate the global banana trade and use their market power to force down prices paid to the growers.

Banana growers face low wages and long hours working on plantations and rights abuses are common. Agrochemicals are often used to combat crop diseases, but exposure to these chemicals can have devastating impacts on the health of workers and their families – including cancer, sterility and birth defects.

Anikoa Abbott grading her Fairtrade bananas. Photo: Abigail Hadeed/Oxfam

A better future with Fairtrade

For the small-scale banana farmers of the Fairtrade certified El Guabo co-operative, the future is looking much more positive.

The El Guabo growers rarely use pesticides on their bananas and are working towards organic farming. Through selling to the Fairtrade market, they have been able to significantly increase their incomes. They have been able to provide scholarships for their children and invest in a nursery and a special needs school. They have been able to provide free medical care for workers and their families.

“The biggest difference with Fairtrade is that before we never had any money. Now we can plan and spend money to improve things on the farm. We have money to spend on education for the kids and better groceries for the family.” Sylvia Ramirez, banana farmer and member of the El Guabo co-operative in Ecuador.

Buy Fairtrade bananas next time you shop!

Buy Fairtrade bananas and help banana growers in the developing world work their way out of poverty.

And don't forget to look for the Fairtrade Label – your independent guarantee that a product is Fairtrade.

• Visit the All Good website to find out where you can buy Fairtrade bananas
• Latest news: Thanks to you – sales of Fairtrade bananas are on the up! (19 Sep 10)  

Speak up if your supermarket doesn’t stock Fairtrade bananas

• Support our Check Out Fairtrade campaign: ask for Fairtrade bananas and more at your local supermarket

Watch this: Fairtrade bananas in the Dominican Republic

Find out more

• Read Unpeeling the Banana Trade – a 2009 report by the Fairtrade Foundation (PDF 795KB)

• Find out how Oxfam is helping banana growers in Samoa get a better deal