The European Commission takes on some mighty opponents but Jocelyn Trumpet must be one of the feistiest. Her hat pulled low against the hot sun, she walks proudly around her small, hilly banana plot in St Vincent, part of the Windward Islands.

Asked about the new EU trade rules on banana imports which threaten to squeeze her more expensive bananas out of the market, Jocelyn blazes: “I love farming. I love bananas. I love Fairtrade. I ain’t goin’ down with no banana boat. I’m a stayin’ an’ I’m a fightin’ all the way.” Survival is on everyone’s lips as farmers such as Jocelyn face the potentially disastrous consequences of further dismantling of EU protection at the end of 2005. At a June meeting of industry stakeholders, St Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves spoke of the great threat to the social fabric of the Windward Islands. He said farmers are trying to survive despite “the  contemporary international political economy with its ideological focus on trade liberalisation and a ‘don’t care’ attitude for…the people who become its victims”. Support amongst farmers for Fairtrade has steadily grown despite initial scepticism.

Today, some 17% of all Windwards bananas carry the Fairtrade Certification Mark, bringing much needed benefits. As Marius Ismael, President of the St Lucia National Fairtrade Committee, explains: “It used to be the company that took decisions for the farmers – they were the boss. But at the Fairtrade Groups, it is the farmers who are taking decisions about what to do with the Fairtrade premium. The farmers are in charge of their livelihoods.” Amos Wiltshire, the Fairtrade Coordinator in Dominica, describes the situation before Fairtrade started on his island: “The economy went down to zero because bananas are the heartbeat. Everything was going haywire – increasing crime, youth violence and delinquency, guns and drugs on the increase, families torn apart because there was no income and a real exodus from the island.”

Now, with over 700 farmers selling their bananas under Fairtrade to Tesco, “small farmers have been transformed into businessmen. It is a shining light, pointing us to one response to free trade if we are to survive at all in the export of agriculture.” The Fairtrade premium has been used to put up street lights and renovate sports fields where flourishing football and cricket leagues have put an end to the gangs. Meanwhile, in what Prime Minister Gonsalves has called “an almost suicidal price war”, the price of conventional loose bananas in UK supermarkets has fallen by a shocking 30% since July 2002. Windwards bananas, more expensive to produce than their competitors, are only keeping a toehold in the market thanks to the EU’s current regime of protective tariffs and quotas. That is why the farmers and their island governments are joining forces with UK NGOs such as Oxfam and Banana Link to persuade the EU to maintain the current system, and give precedence to sustainable development over trade liberalisation. Back on the islands, Jocelyn Trumpet remains doggedly optimistic. “My group”, she says, “has a lot of hope; we can help save the industry”.