Billboard made entirely of bananas aims to end retailer price war

28-Feb-2014 - Last updated on 03-Mar-2014 at 12:07 GMT

Fairtrade and Colombian banana farmer Foncho Cantillo hope its banana billboard will help secure a fairer price for farmers

A giant billboard made from over 5,000 bananas has been unveiled on Clapham Common, London in a bid to end retailer price wars trapping thousands of banana workers in poverty.

The 6 x 4 metre billboard was created by artists Henry Coate and Toby Crowther for The Fairtrade Foundation to mark the start of its ‘Fairtrade Fortnight Make Bananas Fair’ campaign.

The billboard is made entirely of green and yellow Fairtrade bananas and took three days and 11 hours to complete.

It has been specially designed to launch the campaign which aims to end the impact of the selling of unsustainably cheap bananas.

Petition government

The Fairtrade Foundation has teamed with Colombian banana farmer, Foncho Cantillo, to petition government to investigate retail price wars.

Prices of bananas have nearly halved over the last decade, falling from £1.10/kg in March 2002 to 68p/kg for most of 2013, according to Fairtrade. The UK consumes 5bn bananas every year.

Cheryl McGechie, director of public engagement at The Fairtrade Foundation, said: “We need government intervention to end unfair supermarket pricing practices so farmers and workers everywhere can get a fairer deal.”

The campaign has received support from a host of celebrities, including comedians Harry Hill and Eddie Izzard and TV presenter Amanda Holden.