Anibal Cabrera’s daughter Noemi is about to do what no one else in their family has - go to university. This is thanks to the money received from selling Fairtrade bananas. “Thanks to Fairtrade my daughter has a high level of education. This is what all the farmers at El Guabo hope for.  She is now preparing to go to university”.

Anibal is an organic banana farmer in the El Oro region of Ecuador, near the Peruvian border. Anibal he has been a member of the El Guabo Co-operative of 450 small-scale banana producers since 2003. These farmers have taken power back into their own hands and have transformed their small farms into an organisation which sells to international banana buyers at a fair price.

 “It has meant a lot to me economically because I was in a very poor economic situation. Now we have a level of income that is stable throughout the year for our families and workers. When I started selling bananas to El Guabo I only had 10 boxes of bananas, now I have a much larger volume. With the help of Fairtrade, life is much better. “

El Guabo is committed to improving the quality of life of their members and their communities. El Guabo receives a Fairtrade premium, a sum of money paid on top of the Fairtrade price the grower receives. The growers democratically decide what to spend this on to benefit their communities and organisation. El Guabo decided to put 20% of this into improving their infrastructure to keep the quality of their bananas high, the remaining 80% of this premiums goes into education, health care, environmental projects and other social programs.

Through buying All Good Bananas, you support the growers and their families to have better lives, while you get to enjoy their quality bananas. These bananas are good for the producers, good for the land and good for you. Thanks to you, things are “All Good” for Anibal and especially for his daughter Noemi.