Can you imagine a world in which there were few bananas on the shelves? Or where chocolate and coffee is hard to come by. Climate change is making crops like these harder and harder to grow. Combined with deeply unfair trade, communities growing these crops are being pushed to the brink.

Smallholder farmers simply can’t foot the bill for adapting to economic and climate change on their current incomes. This fortnight and beyond, Fairtrade is asking shoppers to act now and choose Fairtrade to back the farmers behind some of our favourite products to ensure they are paid fairly and can keep farming through these extremely tough times.

A fair income for farmers and workers is vital now, not only so they can keep farming, but so they can afford to invest in making changes to adapt to the worsening climate and economic crises. It’s simply not fair to expect them to do both without our support. With help and training through Fairtrade, farmers are learning how to diversify and adapt to changing environment.

The concept of commercial fairly traded goods began in the 1940s and 1950s but it was only with the Fairtrade certification process in the early 1990s that sales really took off. Fairtrade is a global movement with a strong and active presence in the UK. Every year they organise a Fairtrade fortnight, to increase awareness. This year they are highlighting the urgent threat to the future of the foods we love and the livelihoods of the people who grow them, as they face the worst effects of the climate crisis.

I have been looking for Fairtrade produce in the major supermarkets. I found Fairtrade coffee in all of them, but limited supplies of chocolate other than Maltesers and Divine. Fairtrade tea and sugar can be found if you look carefully for the Fairtrade logo. You may have to pay a little more but you would be enabling poor farmers to survive and care for the planet. Let’s be a Fairtrade community. Loads of good resources at www.fairtrade.org.uk