Baking for Fairtrade Fortnight

Fairtrade Fortnight runs from 22nd February to 8th March 2010. The themed event will focus on “the big swap”. The idea is to get people to swap to Fairtrade certified products from the conventional products they currently purchase, with a special emphasis on tea. Since everyone likes a slice of cake and a biscuit with their Fairtrade cup of tea, it's been a chance for Kate at Tropical Wholefoods to get her baking hat on again and tell everyone about the gorgeous recipes we have on our website and in our little brochure. Her current favourites are the Tea Loaf which uses Tropical Wholefoods Chewy Banana Chips and Bogoya Banana (along with Fairtrade Tea and raisins) and Amoretti Biscuits which uses Fairtrade natural Apricot Kernels. Check out some of the other Apricot Kernel recipes too – like the Savoury Biscuits, and the Orange and Apricot Kernel Cake on our website: http://www.fmfoods.co.uk/resources/recipes.htm

Sally Reith at Shared Interest is baking a Fairtrade recipe every day of Fortnight and is kicking off with our Banana and Walnut Tea Loaf. (Thank you Sally!) We will also be baking for the Fairtrade Tea Dances in Newcastle and London on 27th February.

If anyone would like recipes and ingredients to use during Fairtrade Fortnight, please get in touch with rachel@fullwellmill.co.uk and she can send you a pack.

Kate will also be putting up recipes on our blog: http://tropicalwholefoods.blogspot.com/

New products for 2010—Nut oils and shells

New imports for us this year are Fairtrade Apricot and Walnut Kernel Shells from our partner Mountain Fruits in Pakistan. These are being sold to cosmetic companies as exfoliate ingredients. They represent a lovely added product for Mountain Fruits. As Sher Ghazi, director of Mountain Fruits said to Kate Sebag: “Local markets are important but the best price for our produce lies in countries far from here. Getting a Fairtrade deal for farmers in these remote valleys is a lifeline.” On the sale of nut and kernel shells, he added “I could say that it was unbelievable for the lady farmers that they could make some money from nuts shells”.

We are finding a 4th apricot product by also importing and selling FT apricot kernel oil into the cosmetic industry. It's started in a small way already but we are seeking to build up FT supply and processing of Nut Oils in Pakistan for both apricot kernel oil, walnut oil and almond oil too.

4 Tropical Snack Bars in New Packaging

Tropical Wholefoods are rebranding 4 of our 6 snack bars. Mango & Brazil nut, Apricot & Raisin, Pineapple & Cashew nut, and 5-Fruit salad, are set to be launched in March and are all Fairtrade (FLO) certiifed and Organic.

The new improved recipes will be vegan, using rice syrup to replace honey. We have also introduced extra crunch into the bars with the inclusion of some organic barley flakes from Pertwood Farms.

5 -Fruit salad replaces the previous Tropical Fruit Bar and is now made with mango, pineapple, banana, raisins and dates, and moistened with a little apple juice. Apricot & Raisin replaces Apricot & Kernel as a product title, although the bars still contain Apricot Kernels as an ingredient.

All 4 bars are under the attractive new Tropical Wholefoods branding which came out in 2009. The fruit bowl images on the bars underline the exceptionally high fruit content of all 4 bars. The cereal bars have a minimum of 32% dried fruit in them, and the 5-Fruit Salad is made with 95% dried fruit, and 5% apple juice.

Two other bars in the six bar range: - Banana & Honey bars, and Date & Walnut bars will for the time being remain in existing packaging until we run down existing packaging stock.

Pakistan Landslide Appeal

Dear Friends and Partners,

You may have heard that on 4th January there were devastating landslides in Atta Abad and Sarat villages in the Hunza Nagar District of Northern Pakistan. 34 houses were destroyed and dozens of others damaged in the two villages. The village of Atta Abad has been completely wiped out with most of the rubble being dragged into the Hunza river creating more potential risk of flooding for other villages as the rubble is making the height of the river rise dangerously. At least 15 people were killed and around 1600 individuals have been displaced so far, 700 of which are accommodated in school camps. The landslide also destroyed 3km of the Karakorum Highway, the main road between Pakistan and China.

Our partners in Pakistan, Mountain Fruits, who buy Fairtrade fruits and nuts from Attaa-bad Village Organisation and from other villages in the region, wish to raise emergency financial support for the villagers affected by the landslide. They hope to provide supplementary food, shelter and bedding as soon as possible to displaced people in this remote region. They have therefore appealed to Tropical Wholefoods and Fullwell Mill to communicate with our partners and friends in the UK to raise any financial support we are able to.

Our ethical financier, Shared Interest have very kindly offered to help with the administration and despatch of funds. So if you are able to make a donation, please follow these instructions:

DIRECT BANK TRANSFERS:
should go to:
Account Name: Shared Interest Foundation
Account Number: 70749045
Sort Code: 089006
Please quote: Livelihood Security Pakistan

Please also send andrea.wilkinson@shared-interest.com a short email saying that you are making a donation for Pakistan Landslide Relief.

CHEQUES:
If you wish to send a cheque please make it out to the: Shared Interest Foundation. Please post it to Andrea Wilkinson, Shared Interest Foundation, No 2 Cathedral Square, The Groat Market, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1EH Please include a note quoting:
Livelihood Security Pakistan

We have more detailed reports on the events which have been sent to us by Mountain Fruits. Please feel free to contact me directly on Rachel@fullwellmill.co.uk where I can send the reports in response.

Thanking you in advance for any assistance you are able to offer to the villagers in the region. Your solidarity will be hugely appreciated.

Tropical Wholefoods

From Adam Brett in Afghanistan, December

Part 1: Raisin farmer meeting. Fantastic, usual mayhem of farmers arguing, talking, mobile phones ringing, with the added Afghan variation of the door opening and harsh gusts of freezing air tearing through the building ... Incredibly annoyed, my camera battery died en-route. But I got a decent number of photos from Mercy Corps (NGO we are working with) camera, though it is not as nice. Really annoyed, as I could have had film of the farmers meeting, which would have been the icing on the cake of a decent short film. On the plus side MC are taking extensive film of the project ... and will circulate to us.

Overall meeting was a real success. Farmers are fantastic and will be good to work with. Impact of trade will be vast too.

Part 2: Visit to USA Embassy and USAID compound with Mercy Corps... wow. Multiple security checks, metal detection. Deposit all personal items (note book and pen were allowed through) ... and that was only to get into the USAID side. Then inside, the most surreal place I have even visited, like something straight out of a mad sci fi movie. Rows and rows of "hardened" bunker offices (basically oversized sea-containers covered in sandbags) joined together by enclosed, windowless walkways. Once you enter by a door (more security) you walk through a grid-like maze of identikit spaces, carpet below your feet, cubicle offices on the left and small meeting rooms on the right. The woman we were meeting has a cubicle 2 m x 2 m. There are literally hundreds of these cubicles running in every direction, with no distinguishing features. The woman (who has been working there for 9 months) still regularly gets lost. No windows. After visiting her cubicle to get some stuff we moved to the diner complete with Gatorade and Iced Tea ...

Richard in Afghanistan Part 4

12th August 2009
Early start to Charicar arera and a meeting to meet one of the most active lead farmers Mr. Farhim at Demulla Village. He lives with his five brothers and their families. They make 90% of their farm income from grape or raisin. He is very interested to hear again about the fair trade minimum price. This is one of the mainstays of the FT system, it is a calculation of the costs of production so that the producer can rely on an income from their efforts. If market prices are higher than the minimum that's fine but the farm gate price can never be lower than the minimum.
Unfortunately we still have no definite purchase order so I have only the assurance that they will know volumes within 7 days. They have to make a fast decision about whether to sell table grapes to merchants who have already approached them.

On to the factory where we meet the engineer who's company is doing the factory renovation. We discuss my adaptions, he's a very bright guy and he picks up the idea of people and product flow and segregation of wet and dry processing immediately. Apparently he's in much demand he's got 8 police stations on the go at the moment. The Taliban arrested him and his French business partner last year and suggested building things for the government is not something he should bother with. His business partner agreed with them and left the country. John also runs off when we get round to the main store room but does see the logic that the roof also needs to be replaced. Spending American taxpayers money is something which I would like to do more of. A bit more reconstruction after funding the biggest covert war in history and flooding Afghanistan with weapons to fight the Soviet Union and the conditions which allowed the rise of the Taliban may have been avoided.

Back to Kabul and meeting with ACAP managers of a giant USAID funded venture capital fund. A bit out of our league.

After a series of calls we find the Roots of Peace compound and meet up with Zach and Gary. I worked for RoP for two weeks in 2007 in Badakshan which is the most Northern Province in the country. I really admire the work they do, attention to detail and long term goals. They also do project work but in the background has always been the idea of helping to build a proper almond industry association in Afghanistan. They have analysed and worked on all aspects of the almond supply chain from nurseries to processing, taken best practice and looked at what can be implemented in Afghanistan. Its great to talk to Zach again I like his company and he offered me a job once, the two of them have masses of experience, information and contacts which they are very generous with. By the time we get back its 20:00. Finish email after midnight.

13th August 2009
Another good night of sleep, fantastic. I call John at 7.30 but his phone is off so get on with some e-mail, apparently one of the phone networks is down. Off to the Mercy Corps offices for a meeting to agree priorities for the next few critical weeks of the renovation and farm raisin production then back to the Kabul Inn to pack. Somehow despite only having an additional couple of KG's of raisins in my bag nothing fits. The bag has shrunk or my cold weather clothes have swelled in the heat (I have winter boots two fleeces and a water proof jacket for 3 days trekking at the end of the trip.) There is knock at the door and I am requested to go to reception. One of the GDA staff tells me I am now booked on a PIA flight to Islamabad and now have to get to the airport for 12. Instead of having lunch with John and Humayoon we collect John and whiz off to the airport. A few checks outside the terminals and we arrive at the distant car park. Apparently we are too early the PIA check in is not open so we must wait in the sun (and a poilce man makes us go back and stand behind some razor wire) when we are allowed to the terminal it is revealed I have a standby ticket. Have to sit on my bag and wait 90 mins until after 14.00 (the departure time). I was Interested to note that some people were allowed to arrive a full two hours late for the flight before PIA would consider telling them to f*** right off and turn up on time next time you b******s. The flight is 1 hour delayed its past 14.00 and the PIA staff are studiously avoiding eye contact. The UNHCR flight to Islamabad check in is next door. I couldn't get a confirmation yesterday hence the PIA ticket. I better check if the UN flight is full. No and I am on the reserve list, great. In the meantime PIA have processed my bag and ticket. Who cares I'm flying. Make way to waiting room and hear the UN flight being called. Oh that's a shame could have been on that one. I make enquiries when is the PIA flight leaving? The place is still in Islamabad is the chirpy reply. What a beastly bore I mutter to myself and take a seat in the departure lounge. We take off 4 hours late. Proof reading some snack bar wrappers for the contract manufacture part of our business and having a nice chat with a really bright and interesting 14 year old Manc/Afghan pass the time pleasantly. The only down side is that Toblerone is in my field of view. Toblerone is my least favourite confectionary product never the less I like to take photographs of airport toblerone displays and send them to an American I once met who was surprised at my vehemence. I never thought that Toblerone would reach Kabul but there it is in the shiny new duty free goods shop in the shiny new terminal. ****ing Toblerone. I bet Mullah Omah hated Toblerone if so that's one thing I'm absolutely 100% with him on. It's totally unacceptable.

Whiz through Islamabad airport arrivals in five minutes, unprecedented. The baggage carrousel starts before I get to it, amazing. Lovely Hunza Embassy Lodge have arranged a taxi to collect me and Sher Ghazi our partner in Gilgit has arranged for me to collect a ticket for the morning flight at the airport. My flight and reservation is confirmed (I think). There is high speed internet and air conditioning in the room brilliant, its much hotter and more humid than Kabul it must be 60% humidity and 35 degrees outside.
Nice pot of Pakistani tea (made with milk) and a bit of work while the room cools down. Getting comfy and thinking about the 05.30 wake up call when the city power goes off, and the generator can not run the AC. Oh dear my room is now a sauna.

We work out I need a 05.30 alarm call to catch the 08.00 flight to Gilgit but it's very late before the power comes back and I get to sleep.

14th August 2009
Ring ring
Yes
Alarm call sir.
I look at my phone - it's 4.30. Go to find night attendant.
Its 4.30
No sir 5.30
Back to room check phone setting for Pakistan time. I check computer at the top of stairs. Its definitely 4.30 I find the night attendant. Its 4.30. No sir 5.30. Its 4.30. No sir 5.30
No its 4.30
No sir. New time sir.
What?
New time sir.
New time?
Yes sir new time sir.
Apparently 6 months ago the new government decided to change from GMT + 5 to GMT +6. Grrrrrrrrrrr.
The flight to Gilgit is always touch and go, visibility is required as some of the mountains in the north are higher than the cruising altitude of the plane. It regularly turns back after take off and is even more regularly cancelled. The alternative is a road trip of at least 15 hours, this year its 21 hours as the Karakorum Highway is being improved by Chinese contractors and road works litter the northern section. August is usually a good month to fly and there has been a two week unbroken spell of good weather this year. I am on the East side flying north so miss watching the morning sun on Nanga Parbat (2nd highest mountain in Pakistan after K2). But great views to the Hindu Kush and Parmirs.
Sher meets me off the plane and we head off to the office via my hotel.
Given the economic situation we agree that the modest Riviera is more appropriate than the Serena. It's clean and cool and a quarter of the price.

Good general catch up session with Sher, Jamilla and Shaeena. We set a visit agenda and discuss new developments for Mountain Fruits and Fullwell Mill.
Its great to be back here. We finish at 13.00 back to the hotel and sleep for 4 hours....

Richard in Afghanistan Part 3

I know I shouldn't complain but although the room has air conditioning it only seems to have an off or an on setting. On is paralysingly cold and off is suffocatingly hot and is in turn much better than 25,000,000 Afghans have, never the less it doesn't help me get any sleep. I have to turn the air conditioning off/on during the night depending on whether I am paralysingly cold or suffocatingly hot. The paralysingly cold option is apparently unusual in Kabul city power is having an uncharacteristically long run of continuity, 12 hours in 24 is more like par for the course.

Hot water for a shower is brilliant, it thaws me out after I pass out and sleep for a full two hours on cold mode with a single sheet.

A very good visit to our processing partner Bagram Fruit's factory in Charicar (90 mins north of Kabul), the plant renovation plan is progressing well, I was able to advise on a few cost savings and alterations which make product and people separation and process flow best practice more attainable, and have good discussions with Humayoon. It's also good to spend more time with the whole Mercy Corps GDA team which includes the wonderful Amanullah, who I previously knew as a manager at Bagram Fruit.

There is a glitch at one of the raisin collection sites in that a neighbour who lives next to a piece of land which Mercy Corps have permission to build on, objects to the small structure although he can't actually see it from his walled compound. Apparently the traffic of a few farmers occasionally dropping off raisins will be a major inconvenience. Afghan NIMBYS somehow you don't expect it...

John asks me to attend a meeting with USAID who are Mercy Corps' donor on the GDA program. We pick up Mike, a Scottish Mercy Corps staffer and head to the USAID office is opposite the US embassy. The security is unbelievable, I am probably not allowed to even describe it since cars are not allowed within 200m of the actual compound and cameras are confiscated and locked away. A bag, you've got a bag, are you havin' a laugh. Jut say a lot of check points even more gentlemen with guns. The closer to the meting we got the more armed men there are. The US embassy must have more guards than staff. One of the ladies in our meeting is initially more intimidating than the guards but soon thaws when we have answers to her quite probing questions. In the end she seems a full on convert to fair trade and asks about other possibilities for Afghanistan. Although John and Mike would have also earned awards for their significant supporting parts modesty prevents etc.

I have an hour to comment on walnut and packaging problems back home by e-mail and have a shave before going out for dinner to meet Kelly, John's wife.