WORKING on a coffee plantation may not be everyone's cup of tea!

But Elizabeth Chater (pictured) is relishing her trip to Nicaragua to experience life as a fair trade coffee farmer.

Elizabeth (28), of Manchester Old Road, Bury, flies out today (Friday July 26) as part of a study tour organised by the Nicaraguan Solidarity Campaign's Fair Trade Work scheme.

The three-week trip will see Elizabeth stay for two weeks with a family at the coffee producing Augusto Cesar Sandino Co-operative in the Matagalpa area. The work will vary from milking cows and planting seedlings to collecting water and vegetables while making tortillas.

It will be a far cry from her normal jobs of administrating for a workers' co-operative and the Citizens Advice Bureau in Manchester.

Elizabeth, a campaigner with the Greater Manchester Trade Justice Movement, said: "I've been interested in Nicaragua since the late 80s and this trip is the ideal opportunity for me to develop my trade justice work whilst combining it with my interest in both the country and co-operative working."

Fair trade co-operatives aim to guarantee farmers a stable price for their goods. Elizabeth explained: "With coffee prices having slumped, many growers are selling their coffee for less than the cost of production forcing them into a downward cycle of debt and poverty.

"Fair trade makes a difference as it guarantees a fixed price for producers regardless of market fluctuations."

It is not all work for Elizabeth, however, as the third week will be split between time on the country's Pacific coast beaches and the capital Managua.