MiniMonos Friday Featured Friend -- All Good Organics

  

Hooray!  New Zealand finally had its first shipment of Fairtrade bananas!

The dedicated New Zealand-based company behind this,   All Good Organics,  has  been looking to import Fairtrade bananas for a while, as they already do a lot of good work with women and business in Samoa,  building opportunities to sell their products in New Zealand.

All Good bananas come from a cooperative called El Guabo in Ecuador, which represents growers from 339 family farms in 15 different communities. 

As consumers, by paying approximately $1 more per bunch for All Good bananas, we will give back free medical care, food baskets and improved education for the farm workers and their families.  Some families in this community are even sending their kids to college for the first time. 

Amongst other initiatives, in 2008 El Guabo elected to use their Fairtrade premium for the following projects:

1.    Medical teams that each spent 15 days in high-need areas plus support for 2 medical dispensaries.  They also invested in preventative health measures including nutrition and vaccination programs.
2.    Providing teachers in 17 schools in the community, including special needs learning support.
3.    900 educational scholarships for the children of plantation workers and producers.
4.    Baskets of essential provisions, including food for the families of production workers.

Bananas are the main fruit in international trade and the most popular fruit in the world.  Incidentally, New Zealanders are one of the biggest worldwide consumers of bananas! Hmmm -- I wonder if that’s why we invented MiniMonos ('little monkeys' in Spanish) and why we sign-off our communications: “best bananas!”

New Zealand consumers, like many developed countries, respond strongly to supporting our neighbors around the world.  We recognize that there are real issues in countries where farmers are being paid poorly and treated unfairly. 

So we’re glad we finally have Fair Trade bananas in New  Zealand!  A huge well done and thumbs-up from us to All Good Organics!  Thanks Guys!

You can find out more visiting the All Good bananas website.  

Comments

[Dad]

My Sons, account user: Demo , has been set on safety chat, how do you get that off?

[Andrea Deely]

Hi Dad - thanks for your question. At this stage all our chat is set on safety until we get full chat. As we develop further and get 24-hour moderation, full chat will come.

If Demo earns his status as a Top Banana, he can message his buddies in open chat. He'll show you what Top Banana is -- he just clicks on himself and can see his Top Banana card.

Hope this helps!
Andrea