Here’s a bananas fact for you: bananas sold in Waitrose help build schools. That’s because every Fairtrade banana is now a Foundation banana too. For every £1 spent on bananas, 2p goes back to the communities who grow them in Africa and South America. And it doesn’t stop at schools and education. Other projects funded include clean water facilities, tree planting and emergency relief, all chosen by the grower communities themselves.

For José Abrego, a supervisor at banana producer COOBANA in Panama, that support has had a real impact. Fairtrade-funded initiatives have helped him improve his family home and supported his children's education through scholarships. As José puts it: "For each Fairtrade banana you choose, a Premium comes back to us ... it helps our families and our community a lot."

At Waitrose, we sell a lot of bananas – with a bunch added to baskets every 0.98 seconds, they’re our top-selling product. So it’s going to make a lot of difference. 

Agrícola Ibiza grows bananas in the Dominican Republic, where Fairtrade Premium projects are helping workers and their families improve their everyday lives. Enadis López works in the packing plant and serves as secretary of the Fairtrade Committee, helping make sure money is used where it can have the biggest impact. Through Fairtrade-supported initiatives, Enadis and her husband managed to buy a family home, while their daughter, Manuela, is studying at university with the help of a scholarship. “Having a home is wonderful because it improves our quality of life,” says Enadis. “For my daughter to be studying is also something wonderful.”