International stars join the Make Trade Fair campaign and get dumped on to highlight the unfair practices of the world trading system.

A host of international stars have joined our Make Trade Fair campaign to call for change in the global trading system which is keeping billions of people in poverty.

The actors and musicians - including Colin Firth, Minnie Driver, Chris Martin and Alanis Morissette - are raising awareness about the problems associated with agricultural trade and how poor farmers are getting 'dumped on' everyday by rich countries and companies by being photographed dumped in milk, coffee, chocolate, sugar, rice and cotton.

Agricultural trade is worth $885 billion a year but most of it goes to rich countries; Africa captures barely four per cent of that. The United States and European Union subsidise their farmers by hundreds of billions of dollars each year - with huge agribusinesses hogging most of it. This encourages massive over production and dumping of cheap agricultural products on poor countries markets. Poor farmers can't compete with such unfair competition and their livelihoods are destroyed.

"How sweet does your chocolate taste when you know the producer in a country you will never see did not even get paid enough to feed his family?" says Radiohead's Thom Yorke, who was drenched in chocolate for the photo shoot.

Rich countries can also force poor countries to open up their markets too quickly, while in turn keeping their own markets protected. Equally, huge companies which increasingly dominate internal agricultural markets stand by as the price of raw commodities collapses.

For example, Haiti depends on growing rice for its economy. But in 1995, import tariffs on rice were cut from 50 per cent to three per cent, opening the door to heavily subsidised imports from the US. Prices fell by 25 per cent in the 1990s. Unable to compete with cheap imports, tens of thousands of Haitian rice farmers lost their livelihoods.

Trade is a real solution to poverty. International decision makers will change the rules of trade if enough people make a big noise. These and other celebrity images are being used around the world to encourage a popular movement around fair trade.

We need to push the rich world - especially the European Union and United States - to face up to the crisis they've created, and re-write trade rules so they give poor farmers a fair chance. If we're successful, about 1.2 billion people could lift themselves out of poverty.

2005 presents a unique opportunity for change. A series of crucial events are coming up, ending in December when agriculture will top the agenda at the World Trade Organisation's meeting in Hong Kong. 2005 is also when world leaders check their progress on the first millennium development goal which seeks to halve the number of people living in poverty by 2015 (see pages 16 and 17). This is the year to make poverty history.

• Visit the make trade fair section to see all the celebrity photos and learn more about the issues.
• Make sure you buy fair trade products wherever you can.
• Write to your local supermarket, café or shop and ask them to stock Fairtrade coffee. Or write to your local MP or the media expressing your concern about the unfair global trading system.