AN Amblecote Fairtrade ambassador has been seeing how buying power at home helps farmers’ families in Malawi.

Julie Bate, from Sainsbury’s on Sandringham Way, joined a delegation from the company to learn how a collaboration between business and Comic Relief is lifting people out of poverty.

After demand for tobacco dropped farmers in the region returned to growing peanuts, a crop which features in Sainsbury’s Fairtrade product lines where sales benefit farmers in Africa.

Julie Bate said: “We were privileged to meet small holder farmers in a storage warehouse which houses a nut sizing machine and a nut shelling machine, which was bought through Sainsbury’s Fair Development Fund.

“This fund was set up in 2007 with an initial investment of £1m and is managed by Comic Relief. It aims to assist more farmers and growers to benefit from Fairtrade.”

During he visit Julie saw for herself how tough life can be in Malawi.

She said: “We visited the home and peanut farm of one of the farmers. I was struck how much hard work it entailed for her, as a widow, getting up at 3.30am to work on the land and bring up her children, grand children and aids orphans.

“She was very proud that Fairtrade had allowed her to send her children to secondary school and hopefully to university.

“The most moving part for me was seeing the children line up in the mud to get one sweet from us as a treat. I’ll never forget that day.”

Julie and collegues from the Amblecote store will be joining Stourbridge Fairtrade Group for events on March 4 and 5 to celebrate the town recently gaining Fairtrade status .