SA wine maker takes centre stage

One of South Africa's leading wine makers has taken centre stage at the launch of the UK's Fairtrade Fortnight.

Stellar Organic was the first wine producer in South Africa to be certified as 'Fairtrade', allowing the farmers to get a fair and stable price for their produce. But while the Stellar Winery is a Fairtrade success story there are still many farmers around the world who are locked into trade poverty, something Fairtrade Fortnight aims to change

The British fair trade market was worth R4.1 billion last year - up 46% in just 12 months.
Fairtrade Fortnight aims to persuade more businesses to sign up to the scheme and has flown in fairtrade representatives from around the world to drive the message home. Maria Malan is from the Stellar Winery which bears the organic and fair trade seals of approval.

Farm workers own shares in company
Malan said: "When fairtrade started in Stellar the workers got at this moment 26% shares in the cellar. They also looked forward to become 40% shares on the farm, so that made them workers. First they were normally farm workers but now they are shareholders in the farm and in the cellar. And at the end of the day the children can say, my father or my mother was a farm worker, but I am a farm owner."

Wines are an important part of the fairtrade market in Britain with vineyards in Chile, Argentina and of course South Africa making up a significant chunk of the sector.

Fairtrade Fortnight will now be promoting the Stellar crop and its equivalents in tea, coffee, sugar and clothing industry to try and persuade more Brits to spend their money more wisely and in turn help producers from developing countries get a better deal from international trade.