Volta River Estates Ltd

bananas from Volta River Estates Limited in Ghana 

 
We introduced the UK’s first ever Fairtrade bananas to our customers back in 2000 and remain fully committed to selling more of them than ever before.
 
To the 600-strong workforce at the Fairtrade-certified Volta River Estate Limited (VREL) in one of the poorest regions of Ghana, this commitment has been critical to the survival of their banana plantation over the years.
 
In 2002, when storms destroyed 80% of the banana plantation, we pledged to buy any remaining bananas that VREL could produce. This commitment enabled the community to carry on and little by little recover from the devastation on the plantation.
 
Today, the banana plantation is back to full fitness and busy producing Fairtrade bananas for our customers. The community decided to use part of the Fairtrade premium this year to buy school uniforms for the local school kids; another portion of the premium was spent on buying mosquito nets for workers and their families; hopefully this will mean less mosquito bites and less attacks of malaria.
 
Alex Yeboah-Afari , Manager at Volta River Estates comments on The Co operative’s help in 2005:
 

“I was well used to spending my days weeding, pruning and harvesting bananas.  It was a decent way to earn a living – but when the plantation began supplying bananas to The Co-operative, my life changed for the better."