Fairtrade Grapefruit becomes available nationwide

The world’s first Fairtrade grapefruit are now available in more than 500 Co-op stores across the country, replacing all the non Fairtrade red grapefruit in these stores. The fruit has been imported by Fairtrade fruit pioneers and specialists AgroFair UK.

The product, which has been very well received, comes from Lisbon Estates Fairtrade citrus growers in South Africa, the ‘sister’ farm to Zebediela Estates which grows oranges and lemons for the Fairtrade market, also imported via AgroFair.

AgroFair is the international Fairtrade company which developed the first Fairtrade fruits available – bananas, mangoes and pineapples and was the first to sell these to the UK market, all through Co-op stores nationwide.

John Bowes, AgroFair UK’s Managing Director, said: “Fairtrade grapefruit are a very welcome addition to our range – alongside our year round supply of bananas, mangoes, pineapples, oranges and soft citrus as well as Fairtrade lemons and fruit purées.”

Debbie Robinson, Director of Food Retail Marketing at The Co-operative Group, commented: "The Co-op has the widest available range of Fairtrade products covering many categories and the Fairtrade grapefruits add to our growing range of Fairtrade fruits."
Lisbon Estates, based in Mpumalanga province, was once South Africa’s biggest grapefruit exporter. When black farmers laid claim to the land, the white farm owners neglected the farms, failing to irrigate and maintain them in any way. The fruit’s quality dropped dramatically but the grapefruit are now back to export quality, thanks to new owners South African Farm Management working within the Black Economic Empowerment system and with AgroFair.

Lisbon Estates employs 170 permanent workers and 300 temporary employees who work during harvesting times. The farm is owned by the community and the workers. SAFM lease the farm from them which means the black community owns it.

When the workers receive the Fairtrade premium from their first Fairtrade sales they are considering opening a crèche for their children so they can be confident of safe, good quality childcare while they work. The workers at Zebediela, too, are considering spending some of their Fairtrade premium on mattresses and blankets for the crèche at their farms, together with subsidising an HIV prevention campaign and financing a doctor to attend their local clinic twice a week rather than just once.

AgroFair’s fruit is available at all major UK supermarkets. The company is unique among fruit companies as it is jointly owned by the farmers in Africa and Latin America who grow the fruit it sells. They are represented on the company’s board and at Annual Shareholders Meetings. They have a real say in the decisions and direction the company takes and receive a share of profits every time a dividend is paid. A dividend has been paid for the fourth consecutive year in 2007.