IT’S not every new fruit bar that comes with the blessing of a former president and a princess, but James Brett’s does.

Yesterday saw the official launch of the Swindon entrepreneur’s Plant for Peace Yoghurt Coated Superfood Fruit Bars.

They’re on sale at all 717 Holland and Barratt and all 250 Waitrose branches across the country.

James is the founder of Plant for Peace, a charity devoted to wiping out the Afghan opium trade by enabling farmers to switch to other crops such as pomegranates, mulberries and almonds.

For each bar sold at Holland and Barrett and each four-bar multi-pack sold at Waitrose, a tree will be added to the 400,000 the charity has already given to farmers.

The produce of those farmers is bought back by the charity, and 71 per cent of the bars’ ingredients come from Afghanistan.

The Plant for Peace website boasts an endorsement from Princess Basma Bint Ali of Jordan, who writes: “I have always believed that without hope we have nothing.

“When James Brett began explaining to me about Plant for Peace I realised that, here is a courageous man who has turned the notion of hope from an ethereal concept into a living reality.

“What more appropriate fruit than the fruit of paradise to start with?”

Also quoted is General The Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, former chief of the British armed forces, who said: “Plant for Peace is a great example of the culturally sensitive, genuinely comprehensive innovation Afghanistan and its war-weary population need.

“I have high hopes of it and urge your support.”

Lord Richards isn’t the only general to back Plant for Peace. James said: “I’d like to mention Major General Arthur Denaro, a trustee of the Plant for Peace foundation, who kindly took me to Balmoral to meet with his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.

“He was very enthusiastic about the project.”

Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai and the Emir of Qatar have also voiced their support, as have a long list of other dignitaries.

James has made dozens of visits to Afghanistan and held mass meetings with tribal and community groups, spreading the word about Plant for Peace.

The bars going on sale is the latest achievement in a remarkable life. James admits to having gone off the rails following childhood sexual abuse by his grandfather and other traumas. At one point he lived in woodland near Wroughton, surviving by foraging.

Eventually he rejected his lifestyle and through sheer force of will became a businessmen.

Developing a fondness for international travel, he happened to buy a cup of pomegranate juice from a street vendor and decided it should be the next major British health drink. Pomegreat remains available to this day.

James feels his past enables him to operate calmly in a part of the world where there are still dangers.

“Sometimes it is slightly nerve-wracking, but I was used to that feeling as a child, and I accept the feeling.

“I’m quite fortunate that my past has enabled this. I take a lot of determination from my past.”

The genesis of Plant for Peace is explained on the fruit bar’s packaging: “In 2007 I ran into a field of opium poppies to persuade an Afghan farmer that pomegranates were the answer to achieving a more stable and sustainable living. One of those special moments in life.

“Since then we’ve been pretty busy persuading thousands of farmers to join Plant for Peace, planting lots of trees and developing these fruit bars with more than 70 per cent of the ingredients purchased from Afghan farmers. We would like you to be part of Plant for Peace by planting a tree in Afghanistan.”

James added: “The overall aim of Plant for Peace has always been to create livelihoods – alternative livelihoods to opium, but predominantly to create livelihoods. It is important for the farming community to be able to function, because that’s 80 to 85 per cent of Afghanistan. It includes members of the Taliban who have been displaced and can return home to work the land.”

The bars are made in Austria, but the eventual aim is for production to begin in Afghanistan, bringing more jobs to the country.

James said: “Everybody in Afghanistan who I’ve ever spoken to has always been supportive of Plant for Peace. It takes a nation of farmers who are probably looked on negatively because they grow opium, and it brings them into livelihoods.

“Any farmer wants to sell their produce, and the Afghan farmers are great farmers and great traders. Probably the main reason Plant for Peace is moving forward successfully is because this gives them that opportunity.

“Everybody in the world – it doesn’t matter what we do or how we make our living – has to put food on our tables.”

The bars come in three flavours – original pomegranate and mulberry plus versions with organic orange and lemon oil.

Individual bars cost £1.39 and multipacks £3.99. For more information, visit plantforpeace.org