RESIDENTS are being encouraged to snap photos and snack on bananas in unusual places to show their support for a national campaign.

The photos will be part of a banana picture competition, one of a series of events planned for Warrington to raise awareness for the national Fair Trade Fortnight charity event from February 24 to March 9.

The focus of the fortnight is on what campaigners say is the unfair trade of bananas in the UK.

As part of the Warrington campaign people are being given the chance to enter a competition by taking a picture if themselves eating a FairTrade banana in an unusual place.

Entries can be post on the Facebook page Facebook.com/Fair4All, or taken to the Fair4All stall in Warrington Market, before March 8.

Jackie Hancock from the Warrington Fair Trade steering committee, which is organising the competition, said prizes would be given for the best individual and best group photo.

The competition was the first of a series of fun events planned to raise awareness about a serious issue.

She said: "Since FairTrade bananas reached our supermarket 10 years ago the cost of producing bananas has doubled, while the price of non FairTrade bananas has almost halved, because of pressure from British supermarkets to keep prices unrealistically low," she said.

Some supermarkets had risen to the challenge, with Sainsburys, The Co-Operative and Waitrose only stocking FairTrade bananas. However, with other supermarkets not following, campaigners are also encouraging people to sign a petition calling on the government to help ensure all bananas sold in the UK are fairly traded. More information is available at http://foncho.fairtrade.org.uk/