THE manager of a local Oxfam shop met Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to ask him to champion small scale farmers.

Jill White, who runs the Oxfam shop in Wanstead High Street, was in Whitehall with other volunteers from Oxfam and the Co-op on June 16 where she presented Mr Clegg with a mosaic made out of food.

The mosaic features a picture of a tea farmer called Betty, who is one of 11,000 smallholders supported by The Co-operative.

Mr Clegg will be meeting with other politicians in Rio at The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development next week.

More than 17,000 people have signed a petition calling on politicians to increase investment in sustainable smallholder agriculture.

Miss White said: “He liked the mosaic an awful lot.

“It’s really important to champion small scale farmers and make sure they have their own sustainable way of farming because we believe no one should go to bed hungry.”

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