If Nestle thought they could quietly ignore cocoa and sugar farmers as they walked away from Fairtrade, this week has proven them wrong.
I can’t believe over 20,000 of you have signed this petition in less than a week – that’s more than one every minute! Thanks so much to everyone signing and sharing.
But we’ll needs lots more signatures to convince Nestlé to listen, so please keep sharing
Some of you have even been tweeting, emailing and writing to Nestlé, which is brilliant. Even if their answers have been less than helpful.
Nestlé have responded to questions online, sometimes with numbers and sometimes with vague commitments. But none of the responses so far address the concerns the farmers of the Ivorian Fair Trade Network raised last week.
That means there’s still no long-term commitment from Nestlé to match the benefits of Fairtrade those farmers stand to lose if KitKat is no longer Fairtrade.
They have acknowledged that farmers will be impacted by the change however, and are talking about providing short term financial support to them. But the amount falls short of what they would have earned with Fairtrade and there’s still no commitment that farmers will be able to decide how that money is spent.
With the Fairtrade Premium, farmers themselves decide how to spend the money they earned. Fairtrade is 50% farmer owned and it gives them a democratic voice. It’s so important they keep that power, and they aren’t forced to invest in whatever Nestle thinks best.
It's been amazing to read all your comments and to see so many people speaking up for farmers this week, pointing out what they stand to lose. Have a look at this blog from The Ethical Trading Initiative and these questions raised by MPs for starters. There’s also more information on the Fairtrade Foundation website.
But it’s clear we need Nestlé to start answering some serious questions from farmers– I’ve a few ideas on how we can help push them to do this and will be back in touch soon.
Thanks again for signing and standing in solidarity with farmers around the world. Keep signing and sharing and we'll make Nestle understand how important it is to Keep KitKat Fairtrade.