There are now two whole shelves stacked with Fairtrade goods in my local Co-op and the fruit shelf is bulging with bananas bearing the blue and green Fairtrade symbol. Other supermarkets all over the country are promoting Fairtrade foods too, and not just because it is Fairtrade Fortnight – the public are now actively seeking out these foods because they taste good, and their purchases are helping farmers in the developing world live a decent life.

Figures show that the actual volume of Fairtrade products worldwide more than doubled between 2006 and 2007, directly benefiting more than seven million farmers, workers and their families in 58 developing countries.

The concept of ‘fair trade’ has been around for more than 40 years, but a formal labelling scheme didn’t get off the ground until the late 1980s. Towns and cities are now qualifying for Fairtrade status. Oxford gained this in March 2004, making it the 47th to be accredited with the Fairtrade mark. Now more than 100 towns are committed to supporting Fairtrade. To get the status, a village, town, borough, city, country or island has to make a substantial commitment to the promotion and uptake of Fairtrade foods, at local authority level and in shops and businesses in the community.

Oxford goes one stage further, thanks to the staff at the University Botanic Garden who always design a Fairtrade trail through the gardens and hot houses during Fairtrade Fortnight. Emma Williams helps organise this trail. She says: “It’s easy to take pineapples, bananas, coffee beans and exotic produce for granted. Our aim in organising the trail is to help people find out about both the plants and the farmers who grow these crops. We also explain how Fairtrade payments are helping to make a real difference to the way the farmers live.”

The garden’s glasshouses are full of exotic plants that provide us with plants the Fairtrade farmers produce. Visitors can also find vines and beehives which have clear Fairtrade links. Emma said that the staff had great fun explaining to the children that they could try growing their own tropical plants during the summer months. With patience, exotic fruits such as pineapples could be grown in a moderately light spot on the windowsill from cast-off tops from the fruit. She said they also explained how they could grow groundnuts and fresh ginger, too.

Ginger is particularly easy – just look for a piece of ginger which has a few small green shoots beginning to sprout from the root, cut the shoot off and plant in potting compost in the spring. If you keep it warm and moderately moist you will have your own ginger plant in no time at all. Occasionally, your ginger will produce yellowish-green, purple lip-marked flowers, as well as a substantial root, which can be harvested in the autumn when the leaves have died down.

For more details of the botanical garden’s Fairtrade trail go to: www.botanic-garden.ox. ac.uk Riverford Organic, which operates a nationwide organic vegetable box scheme will be offering customers a chance to order organic Fairtrade pineapples to coincide with Fairtrade Fortnight which continues until March 9. The pineapples come from Togo, West Africa, and are grown by a group of farmers who are paid a fair wage and given a guaranteed market for their produce.

Jake Swinhoe, who delivers Riverside boxes in the Oxford area, said: “We are very excited about selling this pineapple; it’s incredibly sweet and has zero air miles, as we never air freight any of our produce.

“By buying it, you can make a difference to the lives of the African growers and their families.

Their website is www.riverfordnorton.co.uk Fairtrade pineapples are also sold as dried fruits in several outlets. Dried pineapples and other fruits such as dried mangoes provide farmers in the developing world, who are struggling to find a reliable market for their fresh fruits, with a great way of preserving their produce. Drying excess fruit avoids waste. It also provides us with a delectable product that can be eaten as it is or used in the kitchen.

It’s Fairtrade coffee that interests me most. As readers may be aware I pledged to only eat local/British food throughout 2009. In many ways this has been easy, as there are ample foods available if you know where to shop. The one thing I eventually admitted was proving difficult to give up was coffee.

I have got over this by acquiring Fairtrade coffee from my local Co-op. The Co-op switched its own label hot beverages to Fairtrade last year, and now offers a great choice. I am making my way through a jar of Co-op Fairtrade rich roast instant coffee granules – a gift from a friend who couldn’t bear to watch me suffer coffee deprivation.

I’d gone without coffee for a couple of weeks when she waved the Fairtrade jar in front of me, which is produced from a blend of Brazilian and Colombian beans. It tasted fantastic, the rich roast that the label promised. Two weeks in, it still tastes superb.

When that jar is finished I will try the Co-op Fairtrade ground coffee, including the Italian blend which is a full bodied espresso-style coffee that should certainly add a spring to my steps.

Chocoholics who want to consider Fairtrade products should look for the Divine brand. Divine was the first Fairtrade chocolate aimed at the mass market. It is produced from high-quality cocoa beans from Ghana.

You will spot the Divine chocolate bars immediately as they are decorated with traditional West African Adinkra symbols that appear on crafts and fabrics all over Ghana.