This year Fairtrade Fortnight is from 24th February to 9th March.
Melksham residents Joan and Judith will be selling Fairtrade produce from Palestine at events in Devizes, Bristol and Bradford–on–Avon. But they do not restrict their sales to just one fortnight, they are active throughout the year. For example you may have seen their stall at the Melksham Christmas Fair and The Melksham Food Festival. In fact, since last year’s Fairtrade Fortnight they have sold £4,400 of Palestinian olive oil, green & black olives, almonds, dates, sun-dried tomatoes, cous-cous, herbs and olive oil soap.
They act as volunteer distributors for the Community Interest Company, Zaytoun. Zaytoun was founded in 2004 to create and develop a market in Britain for artisan Palestinian produce. It is a member of the World Fair Trade Organisation. Most of its produce is imported via Canaan Fair Trade which has a factory in the village of Burqin, near the city of Jenin in the Palestinian West Bank.
It now has a modern factory, partly funded by Oxfam. It provides employment for 50 people. It takes produce from over 40 co-operatives and supplies goods to 18 countries. For every bottle of olive oil that Joan and Judith sell, 65% of the price goes to Palestine – 30% to the farmers 35% for processing/bottling. The remainder covers the cost of importing, marketing and distribution.
In addition to paying a fair price to the growers and processors, every purchase of a Zaytoun fairtrade certified product pays a Fairtrade Premium. Each producer co-operative decides how this should be spent to the benefit of their own community while the Canaan Factory uses some of its Fairtrade Premium to provide scholarships to the children of their employees.
Joan and Judith can be contacted on 01225 708021 and will be happy to let you sample Zaytoun products. You will not be disappointed. The olive oil has been highly rated by several well known chefs and it is likely that you will find the dates and cous-cous very different from your usual purchases.
Some of the products can also be purchased from Oxfam shops and by mail order from Traidcraft. Wherever you buy these Palestinian goods you will be supporting people who struggle to make a living in very difficult circumstances.
