A BICESTER group will mark Fairtrade Fortnight by getting people to make a smoothie using the power of a bicycle.

Bicester Fairtrade will set up in Sainsbury’s, Pioneer Square, on Saturday, March 1, offering people a chance to make a banana smoothie using pedal power.

The event is to support hard-pressed farmers and ensure they get a better price for their work.

This year’s Fairtrade theme is bananas and the Bicester group says it is working with the supermarket chain as it sells only the Fairtrade variety of the fruit.

People will also be asked to sign a petition for a nationwide campaign on the issue of Fairtrade bananas.

Group chairman Colin Cockshaw, right, said: “In the last 10 years, a price war has seen UK supermarkets almost halve the price of loose bananas, while the cost of producing them has doubled.

“This is trapping many of the farmers and workers who grow them in poverty and threatening the future of banana production.

“This is totally unsustainable and the Government is being asked to act to protect the millions of poor farmers and workers who grow the UK’s favourite fruit.

“Of course, Fairtrade protects the price that growers are paid, but the campaign is to seek a fair deal for all banana producers — to make all bananas fair.”

In the past fortnight, Fairtrade group members have given talks to local Scout and Beaver groups.

There will be a Fairtrade coffee morning at Bicester Methodist Church, on Friday, March 7, and schools in the town include Fairtrade in their curriculum.

For more, visit fairtrade.org.uk