EqualiTEA

What problem or need is the project addressing?

South Asia is one of the world’s major tea-producing regions. Over 11 million people in India and Bangladesh are dependent on the tea industry for their livelihoods, including 158,000 small tea growers. Tens of thousands more small tea growers in India remain uncounted and unrecognised.

Small tea growers and their workers are some of the most vulnerable in the tea industry and receive the lowest rewards for their labour. They grow and harvest a perishable product that cannot be stored or transported over a long distance. Ideally tea leaves need to be processed within two hours of harvest, limiting market opportunities to a small geographic area. As a result small tea growers are dependent on local processing factories, making it virtually impossible for them to negotiate with buyers on price.

Many small tea growers are not recognised by the wider tea industry, and their lack of representation means they suffer from low prices, exploitation by factories and lack of access to resources that could improve the quality and yield of their tea. These problems have been aggravated by the volatility of the market, leaving many in debt. Although a national organisation exists to represent their interests – the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers’ Associations (CISTA) – it needs to be strengthened and expanded to cover more small tea growers.

Our previous experience in tea and other commodities has shown this situation can be improved by harnessing the collective power of individual growers and supporting them to form collectives which help small tea growers improve quality, access services and benefits, and demand entitlements.

The project aims to reduce poverty among small tea growers in India and Bangladesh by helping them to form representative bodies which can stand up for their rights and negotiate fairer terms of trade.

To achieve this, the project will:

• Create a collective voice and identity for small tea growers. Currently, small tea growers are unable to participate in policy making, negotiate with supply chain actors, benefit from economies of scale or attain their rights to services and support. The project will support them to organise into societies and associations at local and regional level, which will be able to represent their interests and advocate on their behalf.

• Build the capacity of small tea growersin: technical skills to improve quality and productivity; institutional development to improve governance and organisational development; advocacy skills to improve understanding of and access to rights and entitlements; and business skills to improve links within the supply chain and markets.
• Ensure affordable service provision One of the fundamental problems for small tea growers is lack of access to affordable business services. The project will train a cadre of local ‘barefoot’ consultants from among the tea growers themselves who can provide technical and business support services at nominal fees.
• Carry out national advocacy. Areas for policy action will be identified by the small tea grower associations. Specific actions with key policy makers will seek redress and an improved policy environment (such as support and recognition for small tea growers, access to credit etc). This will benefit the growers participating in the project as well as the tea sector as a whole.
• Carry out international advocacy.Since most problems in the tea industry are linked to the global tea situation, it is important to address global issues as well as national issues. We will work towards greater fairness and corporate accountability in the international tea supply chain as well as create awareness at the international level of the difficulties faced by small tea growers.

This is a new project, so it is too early to assess impact. So far a project planning workshop has been held, project offices set up in India and Bangladesh, and project staff recruited and oriented. Focus group discussions have been held with small tea growers in Bangladesh, and so far eight groups have been formed with an average of 25 members each.

We expect the project to benefit 51,000 small tea growers and 11,000 tea workers (mainly women) who are employed by small tea growers. As they earn more from their tea they will be better able to support support their families (310,000 people) and invest in their wider communities. In addition, all small tea growers in India and Bangladesh will benefit from the national/international policy advocacy work.

By the end of the project:

• Small tea growers will have a collective identity within India and Bangladesh. They will be actively negotiating with buyers and policy makers, and working collectively to access resources, services and benefits. They will also have the technical and organisational capacity to improve their livelihoods.
• 80 barefoot service providers will be available to provide ongoing services to small tea growers.
• Tea factories will have increased profitability from an improved supply of green leaf.
• There will be more effective national and international advocacy on policy issues affecting small tea growers.

This project is led by our Indian partner the Centre for Education and Communication (CEC), an NGO that has been working on tea issues in India since 2000, especially with small tea growers. Our partner in Bangladesh is Bikash, an NGO working on development for women, children and poor communities in Panchagarh District (northwest Bangladesh).

The project is funded by the European Commission (90%), grant-making trusts, and donations from generous individuals.