Sustainability issues in the tea sector - a comparative analysis of six leading producing countries

This report presents a detailed and comparative analysis on social, economic and ecological conditions in the tea sector in six of the most important tea-producing countries: India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia, Kenya and Malawi. It also presents an overview of trade, production and stakeholders in international tea supply chains.

The main findings include:

• as a result of factors such as increasing primary production costs, falling prices and globalisation that has facilitated increased trade and enhanced competition between tea exporting countries, the tea sector is witnessing restructuring, especially in India with estates being abandoned and closed,
• high energy consumption (mainly using logged timber) and increasing application of pesticides are causing environmental damages
• working conditions of tea-plantation workers are often poor. Low wages, low job and income security, discrimination along ethnic and gender lines, lack of protective gear and inadequate basic facilities are among the problems facing the workers
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has not received much attention to date in the tea sector, both in producing or consuming countries, when compared to the coffee sector

The report makes a series of recommendations to various stakeholders in order to improve the condition of the sector. These include:

To tea companies:

• adopt and implement CSR policies that improve social, economical and environmental conditions in the plantation and factory
• allow for multi-stakeholder monitoring and verification of the social, economical and environmental standards adopted
• provide support to small tea growers through technical, financial and marketing assistance for market access and quality improvement

To the Governments:

• consider and adopt schemes that allow for management of tea oversupply
• provide technical and marketing assistance to the small and marginalised farmers, including in the area of crop diversification
• provide credit schemes and debt management services to the plantations
• ensure that labour laws are not violated on the large plantations

To NGOs

• provide technical assistance and other commercially oriented support, including quality-improvement training, sales and marketing skill building, support of participation in trade shows
• train small-scale tea growers on social, economic and environmental aspects, and improve their understanding of the tea value chain
• encourage tea companies to implement effective and meaningful CSR policies