This is a text-only version of an article first published on Monday, 2 February 2015. Information shown on this page may no longer be current.
Fairtrade has been successful in raising awareness of the need for justice and in improving the lives of millions of small farmers - but there's still a lot that needs to happen.
And we can be part of that. That's the message of this year's Fairtrade Fortnight, which runs from 23 February to 8 March.
It's partially a celebration - UK sales of Fairtrade products topped £1. 7 billion in 2013, and Fairtrade globally has been able to help transform the lives of more than 1. 4 million people.
Producers derive security and dignity from Fairtrade's minimum prices, which cover the costs of sustainable production; its guarantees of labour rights; and its social premium, which enables investment in social and economic development. Côte d'Ivoire cocoa farmer Traore Issouf has benefited.
He comments: "Before we didn't earn enough.
Now when I get ill, the co-op looks after me.
We have learnt to do pruning and to maintain our cocoa trees and now we get a better harvest. "But many Fairtrade producers are only able to sell a fraction of their production on the Fairtrade market - for tea, it's only nine per cent on average - and there are hundreds of millions of producers who don't yet have access to the Fairtrade system.
And while there's been great progress in the UK in terms of shops selling Fairtrade products, if more producers are going to be able to access Fairtrade's benefits, the market will need to expand further. So the Fairtrade Foundation has been asking shoppers to ask Tesco and Asda to make their bananas Fairtrade - which hundreds of people around our area have done.
And this Fairtrade Fortnight, it's asking all of us to take the "stock it" challenge, visiting our usual shops and eating places, seeing what they stock or serve, and asking them whether they'd be willing to expand the Fairtrade range they carry. The "stock it" challenge is one that many of us can also do in our homes and churches: we may have Fairtrade tea in the cupboard but for those of us who have enough disposable income to choose what we buy, do we have Fairtrade jam, honey, and biscuits? Have we considered Fairtrade washing-up liquid and rubber gloves or Fairtrade cotton clothing? Are our churches consistently making use of Fairtrade refreshments? Margaret Dykes of Chalfont St Giles, who was awarded the British Empire Medal in the New Years Honours List largely for her work with Traidcraft, explains: "As Christians the challenge is to make choices that enable the world's poorest people to have the same freedoms and privileges that we enjoy.
God teaches us to love our neighbours as ourselves and in our globalised world 'our neighbours' are anyone we trade directly or indirectly with.
It is wonderful how fairtrade has grown since I began this journey 28 years ago but there is still much to do. "For more ideas on the "stock it" challenge and other Fairtrade fortnight resources visit www. fairtrade. org. uk.