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At M&S, all the tea and coffee we sell is Fairtrade. We’re proud of that – not because we’re the only major retailer on the high street that can say it, but because of the difference it makes to the lives of the farmers who grow the crop.

Take Alice Kariuki. She’s a smallholder farmer who owns her own farm and grows tea leaves for the Makomboki Tea Factory in the Thika region of central Kenya. As a farmer, she automatically becomes a shareholder in the factory (there are about 5000 smallholders who own the factory jointly) and they all benefit directly from the tea produced there.

Thanks to the Fairtrade Premium they receive when you buy M&S Fairtrade tea products, such as Gold and Pure Kenyan, Alice and her local community have been able to almost double the size of the town dispensary. This building will host many new facilities, including family planning and HIV/AIDS testing and treatment. They've refurbished the local staff canteen, turning some of it into a training centre for things like dressmaking and hairdressing – there’s even a driving school. On the other side of the building, following requests from factory workers, they’re putting space aside for recreation facilities and a gym. Local schools are also benefiting, with classrooms being renovated and modern toilets being built. A number of water projects are also underway to ensure tapped water is available to more members in and around Makomboki.

Our coffee range also includes a Fairtrade single origin coffee from Rwanda, full of a delightfully balanced but complex range of flavours; citrus aromas, nuances of red berries and a lingering butter toffee finish. We buy the coffee from COOPAC, a co-operative of coffee farmers in Rwanda, who have been Fairtrade certified since 2001. They have already built a school and healthcare clinic thanks to the Fairtrade Premium funds they’ve received. They’ve also improved local roads and bridges. Over the next few years, the premiums will be used to buy a cow for every farmer, which will give them an alternative source of income, as well as enabling them to use the manure to replace chemical fertilizer.

The livelihoods of farmers like Alice, and those in COOPAC, are enhanced by the premiums they receive. We’re proud to support Fairtrade. Why don’t you join us?