THIRST Tea News Update

Typhoo narrowly escapes closure

This month has seen more than the usual number of news stories about closures, exits and evictions of tea companies throughout the value chain. In addition to the usual litany of stories about closures of individual tea estates, the trading giant Cragill has exited from buying tea in the Mombasa auction (Food Business Africa, December 2nd), and one of Britain’s oldest and most beloved tea brands, Typhoo went into administration (BBC, 28^th November).

THIRST was one of the three external members of Typhoo’s very recently formed Fear Free Council helping them to find ways to ensure the safety of women in tea production. Sadly, the company’s financial problems caught up with it before the Fear Free mission (The Grocer, September 18th) could take off in earnest and we are now waiting to hear if Typhoo’s new owners, Supreme Imports (The Guardian, December 2nd) will honour the commitments made to the women at the source of the supply chain. We sincerely hope they do. Hopefully this is not an exit but a pause.

Manjolai workers fail to escape eviction

One tragic closure that is look set to conclude this month is that of the Manjolai tea estate in South India. THIRST has been following this story in our last three News Updates, starting with the announcement that the estate lands were due to revert to the Forestry Commission as they neared the end date of their lease. The seven hundred families who have lived and worked on the estate for generations claim to have been coerced into “voluntary” retirement through intimidation and services to their homes being cut off. They also claimed for protection as forest dwellers, but the Supreme Court has dismissed all their claims.

The judge said “There existed a servant and master relationship between the workers and the BBTCL” (The News Minute, December 6^th) meaning they were not dependent on the forest for their livelihood but came under the remit of the Plantation Labour Act. The court also refused to direct the Tamil Nadu Tea Corporation (TANTEA) to take over the estates, asserting that the “‘Ecocentric approach’ precedes ‘anthropocentric approach’”. They did, however rule that the State government should provide them with housing, education and assistance.

But activists, People Watch, claim that efforts to house them all and ensure alternative livelihoods is not keeping pace with the evictions; “The houses and rehabilitation process are incomplete. The company has already stopped providing the facilities that were earlier provided to the workers, including access to education, hospital, drinking water and transportation (excluding one emergency vehicle)” (New Indian Express, December 8th)

Like plantation workers everywhere, having been brought to work on the plantations generations ago in a “servant and master relationship”, they have no rights to their land, their jobs, their homes or the facilities connected with them. All plantation workers are at risk of a similar fate, particularly given the current precarious state of the industry.

Bangladesh tea workers win battle for unpaid wages

Another group of tea plantation workers suffering extreme hardship this month was the employees of Bangladesh’s National Tea Company (NTC).  As reported in previous News Updates, NTC’s Chairman Sheikh Kabir Ahmed and other directors went into hiding after the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government, at which point the payment of wages ceased. (The Business Standard, December 3^rd)

After working for weeks without pay, and without enough food to feed their families, they finally went on strike (New Age Bangladesh, November 22nd), and mounted a torchlit procession to bring attention to their plight (The Business Standard, November 25) along with demands for higher wages, land rights and an end to discriminatory laws.

After the Bangladesh Tea Workers Federation threatened even tougher action, the authorities agreed to start paying the wage backlog incrementally and the workers returned to work (New Age, December 1st). The Ministry of Labour and Employment directed NTC to immediately auction 2,200,000 kg of tea to cover the unpaid wages. (TBS News, December 4th). While this is good news for the time being, wider tea industry in Bangladesh and beyond remains unstable, and the livelihood of its workers at risk.

The beginning of the end for tea? Or the start of the industry’s regeneration?

Could all these closures and exits be a sign of the long feared demise of the industry as coffee and cold drinks take over? Is tea finally losing its place as the world’s most popular beverage after water (if it hasn’t lost it already)? Or is the industry simply in a state of flux?

The evidence this month from India has demonstrated the quantity-price effect: “Indian tea prices have risen by 18% between January and October due to reduced production” (Economic times, December 4th) , with tea prices staying high in the UK, too, despite lowering inflation (Grocery Gazette, November 26th). The Kenyan government is showing signs of pivoting away from its strategy of maximising volumes towards prioritising quality instead: it has appointed a taskforce to investigate massive backlog of unsold tea in Mombasa warehouses and how to dispose of them, Eastleigh Voice, November 23rd and is “making deliberate efforts to ensure small-scale tea farmers are focused on leaf quality plucking for them to earn higher bonuses”.

Meanwhile, innovators are finding new ways to offer tea to new generations of tea drinkers, including in China; “Guizhou Chunshuitang Tea Co…has developed dozens of new-style tea drinks. The People’s Daily Online, November 21st

Are these signs that the industry is transitioning from a high volume, low quality, low cost commodity in high demand in Europe and America, to a niche (low volume, high quality) product with lower demand in terms of volume, but one that is better appreciated and valued by those who continue to enjoy it? If so, could it eventually generate a price that actually covers the cost of production- one that includes decent wages and conditions for the workers on the ground?

…and of tea’s environmental regeneration?

As tea planters in Assam call for climate change mitigation measures such as climate-smart cultivars, proper shading, irrigation systems, and rainwater harvesting (Economic Times, December 2nd), a number of stories this month point to positive efforts in the tea sector to tackle or mitigate the climate crisis.

For example, the Japanese company, Kirin Beverages, working with the Rainforest Alliance, has launched a ‘Regenerative Tea Scorecard’ to help Sri Lankan tea farmers transition to regenerative agriculture “by focusing on critical areas like soil health, ecosystem restoration, biodiversity conservation, and crop productivity.” Daily Mirror, December 4th.

But can a tea plantation ever be environmentally friendly? A Sri Lankan conservation biologist says that despite extensive destruction of forests and grassland caused by the creation of tea plantations “the current tea plantations still provide vital support to a range of species, including unique amphibians, reptiles, and migratory birds… [and] emphasizes the importance of recognising… the role of tea plantations as a temporary habitat for a variety of species.” The Island Online, November 29th.

However, in South India, environmentalists say that as a result of extensive historical deforestation to make way for tea plantations; “Poorer land makes it more vulnerable to landslides and flooding.” They warn that the Nilgiris could suffer devastating landslides, like those that killed nearly 200 people in neighbouring Wayanad earlier this year. Reviving ancient forests could be the answer.

The few remnants of the “sacred groves” that once blanketed the Western Ghats mountains are now “protected by Indigenous communities who preserve them for their faith and traditions, or are being… tended back into existence by ecologists who remove tea trees from disused farms and plant seeds native to this biodiverse region…[T]heir efforts are finally starting to see results as forests flourish despite ecological damage and wilder weather caused by climate change. Al Jazeera, 20^th November.

The resilience of ancient trees has also been seen by Chinese scientists who have discovered a tea plantation with a “natural and biodiverse ecosystem, which has made it more resilient to climate extremes,” and suggest that “A closer integration with nature could be the key to addressing climate change in the future”. Big News Network, November 20th.