We asked: “How do you Go Further for Fairtrade and Change The World?” This is Harry Hill’s answer:
As a supporter of Fairtrade I’ve met smallholder peanut farmers in Malawi and cocoa farmers in Ghana and I’ve heard about the struggles they’ve been through to get a fair price for what they grow and how they have struggled to make a living. It seems very unfair that smallholder farmers who grow the food we eat are themselves unable to feed their families. This is why they now sell to the Fairtrade market.
That’s why I am supporting the mini march campaign this Fairtrade Fortnight (February 25 – March 10) to help draw attention to smallholder farmers. You can find out more at http://step.fairtrade.org.uk/
My favourite Fairtrade product is Harry’s Nuts!
Fairtrade salted peanuts of course. I am buying double quantities thisFairtrade Fortnight to go a step further for Fairtrade. 
I came up with the idea for Harry’s Nuts! after visiting Malawi and meeting some of the smallholders and wanting to help them sell their peanuts over here, rather than by the roadside in Malawi. I don’t make any money from the brand – it’s not about that. Just like Paul Newman and his salad dressing…
Fairtrade has helped the farmers in Malawi establish peanuts as an export crop and they have opened the first peanut processing plant in Malawi in many years, which means new jobs for Malawi and more of the production happening in Africa. That processing plant is making the peanut paste which goes into sachets of ready to use food for children suffering from malnutrition which is another great step forward.
In Malawi I was particularly struck by how positively the farmers viewed the chance to get their peanuts on to the Fairtrade scheme and the real difference it seemed to be making to their lives. Being able to install a tin roof on their homes rather than a straw one which leaks when it rains, ruining everything they own, is life changing.
The farmers have spent the Fairtrade premium on storage centres to make sure the nuts are top quality. When it’s not harvest time the centres are used as places to store and hand out mosquito nets and for places for children struggling at school to get extra lessons. Education is especially important in Malawi because hardly anyone gets a pension. People depend on their children to look after them if they are lucky enough to reach old age. Farmers sell whatever they have to buy books and uniform so children can hopefully end up with a good job, such as becoming a driver or a nurse. So this is all good stuff.
I’m doing a stand up tour for the first time in 6 years, travelling all over the country. But I’ll still make time during Fairtrade Fortnight to do what I can to support Fairtrade. Once you’ve travelled to meet the farmers and seen how Fairtrade works on the ground it’s impossible not to.”
Harry’s Nuts! products – Fairtrade Salted Peanuts, Fairtrade Salted Cashews and Crunchy Peanut Butter – can be bought at branches of Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, The Co-operative, fairandfunky, and Oxfam. Find out more about Harry’s Nuts! at www.chooseliberation.com , www.facebook.com/harrysnuts and @harrysnuts
Tweets by @fair_funky
