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Fields of Gold |
Fields of Gold 
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall narrates this film, in which two British women go on a journey to discover how the UK's favourite fruit, the banana, ends up in our shopping baskets.
Do smallscale farmers in developing countries get a fair deal for producing Britain’s most popular fruit?
The women, Viv Endecott from Dorset and June Beardshall from Sheffield, were chosen to meet banana farmers in the Windward Islands after entering a competition.
They travel over 5000 miles to visit the Caribbean Island of St Vincent to find out more about the living and working conditions of the farmers – mainly women - who produce bananas for the UK.
"Farmers are being driven out of production as well as having their properties sold because they cannot pay their loans. Fairtrade would help in a real way," says Nioka Abbott, a banana grower from St Vincent.
 In order to compete with the big plantations of Central America, many small farmers are joining the Fairtrade scheme to survive.
In return for meeting specific standards, fairtrade farmers get the benefit of a fair price, secure contracts, and assistance in developing their business or social situation – conditions not available to workers on big plantations.
The UK consumer pays a slightly higher price in the shop, but in doing so they know they’re contributing to a fair deal for families working hard to make a living.
Viv and June returned to the UK committed to making fairtrade work for the people they’d met.
“They produce a good quality crop which we enjoy eating. What’s the alternative for them if we don’t make an effort to eat their bananas,” Viv says.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 February 2008 )
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Fairtrade 
