Tea

The tea sector has been in a downward spiral of low quality and low prices for a number of years. As a result, there has been hardly any investment in improvements.

Tea plantations tend to use chemicals that contaminate the soil and surface water, threaten the health of the tea pickers, and leave residues on the final product. Eight million small-scale tea farmers work using outdated production methods, resulting in poor yields and marginal quality. Additional effects include poor labour conditions and heavy competition.

Unilever, Sara Lee and Twinings – who together account for 40% of the Western market for black tea – are involved in the IDH Tea Program.

Along with certification bodies and prominent social organizations, they are working on large-scale training and certification of tea growers and plantations.

By 2013, the program will have helped advance MDGs 1,7 and 8 by improving the incomes of at least 310.000 of farmers, transforming many tens of thousands of hectares to sustainable land use, and by being a successful example of a public-private partnership that rapidly upscaled.

This coalition will have strongly contributed to transformation of the export tea market by certifying an equivalent of 22% of world export production (365.000 tonnes). In new markets like India, the coalition will have begun to help turn the tide on domestic consumption of certified tea through innovative market-building and awareness raising approaches.

The program will help institutionalize sustainability through firm commitments of companies like Unilever and Sara Lee about buying certified tea and via active consumer communication. Furthermore, the collaboration of standard-setting bodies on pre-competitive issues will contribute to the embedding of sustainability in the tea sector. To help accelerate this whole process, the IDH learning program will have supported the sector to identify and successfully address the five biggest bottlenecks in achieving program targets, while concurrently disseminating best- and innovative practices.

 Michiel Leijnse, Global Brand Manager Lipton Tea about sustainable sourcing and marketing of tea.

Programme targets for 2012

• 22% of worldwide tea export certified sustainable and approximately 2% of the Indian tea market certified sustainable
• Up to 20% increase in income for 310,000 small farmers and workers
• 150,000 hectares of sustainable land use

Focus countries

India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, The Netherlands, UK

Budget

€ 9,2 million (€ 4,1 million IDH) 

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