A BANANA grower from St Lucia visited children at Okehampton Primary to teach them about his farm and Fairtrade food.

Stephen Best talked to children about where St Lucia is, how he grows bananas on his farm, how to manage a small farm and how Fairtrade has helped him and his community raise their standard of living by utilising the 'special premium' issued to Fairtrade farmers.

Following Stephen's interesting presentation, the children took part in a quiz about Fairtade, carried out a role play showing the different people that are involved in the production, export, import and sale of our bananas and how Fairtrade ensures that the producer receives a fair price for the banana production.

Two members of staff from Waitrose arrived with a donation of Fairtrade bananas to give to the children to eat for their snack.  The school expressed a big thank you to Waitrose for its support in Fairtrade Fortnight.

Finally, the pupils enjoyed an activity where they carried out the roles of producer, shopkeeper, exporter and importer, purchasing and selling their bananas to find out who makes the most profit.

Fran Rickwood from Okehampton Primary said: The conference brought the topic of Fairtrade to life for our pupils and will certainly make all who attended think carefully about their choice of bananas in future.'

The town's Fairtrade group will be holding a Fairtrade fair and local lunch on Friday, March 7 at All Saints Parish Hall from noon to 2pm, and a fair and coffee morning on Saturday, March 8 from 10am to noon in the hall to promote Fairtrade produce and raise awareness of Fairtrade fortnight.