FUW sheep farmer hosts coffee farmer to show support for Fair Trade
A Welsh sheep farmer and a Ugandan coffee farmer will compare their different experiences of trying to achieve a fair price for their produce on a visit to a Snowdonia farm on Friday (March 8).
A Welsh sheep farmer and a Ugandan coffee farmer will compare their different experiences of trying to achieve a fair price for their produce on a visit to a Snowdonia farm on Friday (March 8).
Farmers’ Union of Wales deputy president Glyn Roberts will welcome 53-year-old Nimrod Wambette, a school teacher and part-time Arabica coffee farmer, to the 350-acre beef and sheep farm he rents from the National Trust at Dylasau Uchaf, Padog, near Betws-y-Coed.
The FUW and the Wales Fair Trade Forum (WFTF) formally teamed up to promote fair prices for food producers in Wales and throughout the developing world at the 2008 Royal Welsh Winter Fair – shortly after Wales was officially declared the first ever Fair Trade Nation.
Mr Roberts said the FUW strongly advocated a “buy local” policy but for food that cannot be produced in this country people should choose Fairtrade products.
“The FUW firmly believes that a Welsh sheep farmer who wants a fair price for his lambs in the market should want to see coffee farmers like Nimrod get a fair price too. The two principles should have equal priority worldwide.
“We strongly support the efforts of efficient small farmers who are producing food in a sustainable manner,” he added.
The son of a small farmer, Mr Wambette has lived and grown coffee all his life in the foothills of Mt Elgon in Eastern Uganda, where his 88-year-old father had three small coffee gardens.
Mr Wambette is a member of his local cooperative, Konokoyi Growers’ Cooperative Society, and of the larger regional cooperative Gumutindo Coffee Cooperative Enterprise.
He said: “Gumutindo means undisputed quality of pure washed Arabica coffee. It is medium roasted to deliver a citrus sweet flavour and goes through an elaborate garden management free of chemicals, selective harvesting, and careful processing before delivery.
“Since joining the Fairtrade family, the horizon for us small farmers looks brighter with each harvest. The benefits include a price shielded from falling below $1.21 and a social premium for economic and social projects which benefit all people who live in the coffee growing areas.
“Examples of such projects include community roads, school furniture contribution, mosquito nets and treatment to selected homesteads, footbridge timber across streams between ridges etc.
“Through adherence to Fairtrade generic standards and farming practices which emphasise organic manure and environmental awareness, we are contributing to a solution to climate change in a small way. Democratic practices are also entrenched with accountability on the lips of every member farmer.”
After the farm visit Mr Wambette will address an evening reception at the Waterloo Hotel, Betws y Coed, attended by local farmers and Welsh Secretary of State David Jones.
Conwy County Fairtrade Coalition chair Nia Higginbotham said: “We are delighted that the Conwy Fairtrade Coalition and the FUW are continuing to work together to promote ‘buying local and buying Fairtrade’. We believe that farmers everywhere need a fair price for their produce and labour.”