Sri Lanka
Tea cultivation was begun as large plantations but with the gradual changes of the economy, tea planting in small land blocks has become increasingly popular leading to the development of small holder sector in the country. Land redistribution programs implemented by the government after land reform has also caused to increase the number of tea small holders in the country.
- Growing regions- Nuwara Eliya, Dimbula, Uda Pussellawa, Kandy, Uva, Ruhuna.
- Tea categories- High grown (4000+ ft), mid grown (2000-4000 ft), low grown (2000-)
- Tea plants are planted along terraces in the hillside to prevent erosion and improve plant health.
Impact:
Cultivating tea comes with environmental issues. For example, erosion and fertilizers entering bodies of water. The removal of fertile top soils as a result of erosion is one cause of land degradation. The other causes are depletion of soil nutrients, damage to physical and chemical properties of the soil, and the reduction in soil capacity to retain moisture. Another environmentally-related problem is the leeching away of fertilizer (nitrates) from steeply sloping land into downstream water bodies.
China
In China, tea growers are the main source for raw material extraction. In total, there are 80 million tea growers in the country of China, that are widely distributed. In China, green tea is the dominant tea leaf grown, making up 3/4 of the total exports.
Tea categories:
- Basic- green, oolong, black, yellow, dark.
- Reprocessed- flower and fruit.
- Mass production- produced by machines.
- High-end tea: human labor, handmade during the whole procedure.
Tea regions:
- South China (Guangdong, Guan Xi, Fujian, Hainan)- most suitable region for growing large leafed tea. Main tea types include black, oolong, and flower.
- Southwest China (Yunan, Guizhou, Sichuan)- most ancient tea growing in this area. Tea types include: black, green, tuocha, and Pu’er tea.
- South of the Yangtze River (Zhejiang, Hunan, Anhui)- produces 2/3 of the total yield every year. Includes green, black, dark, and flower tea. Also produces high-end (human labor intensive) tea.
- North of the Yangtze River (Henan, Shanxi, Gansu)- northern most tea producing area. Mostly grows green tea.
India
The main tea producing States include Assam (highest tea producer) West Bengal (known for Darjeeling) Northern India and Southern India (Tamil Nadu) (red flags google map).
Tea grows as a bush or tree and estates on hillsides in most states or on some plains in Assam. Tea requires temperatures between 18 – 34 degrees C, sunshine for an average of 4 hours, at least 1,600 mm of precipitation annually, deep nutrient rich loose soil that is moisture retentive, but not waterlogged and an optimum range of soil PH between 5.o – 5.6 for optimal growing conditions.
Most of the virgin fertile land in India is already used for tea and many of their plants are old and need to be replaced with higher yielding young plants. New tea plants are grown from cuttings taken from “mother” bushes and grown in Nurseries
Bush Husbandry – takes approximately 4 years new seedling to be ready for plucking and be commercially viable,
Drainage ditches – cut into each “tea growing section” to channel excess water away and limit the amount of topsoil swept away
India’s concentration on tea has created a “monoculture” (cultivation of a single crop in a given area) and created a perfect environment for pests, tea workers are now using pesticides on tea plants to reduce pest infestation
Extraction of tea leaves tedious, labor intensive manual work – skilled manipulation of fingers for plucking 2 leaves and a bud at a time, over 50% of labor force are women, child labor also used, tea workers are paid less than the minimum wage in India
Tea growing estates in India are required by law to provide housing, basic necessities of life (water, toilets) access to medical facilities and schools for their tea workers.
Social Issues
The social issues includes low wages, child labor, poor living conditions, lack of fresh water, improper sanitary conditions including lack of usable toilets, inadequate medical facilities and lack of access to schools for children.
Typical daily tea work wage is 115 rupees a day in Assam (equivalent to $1.75 U.S. per day) minimum wage for general workers in Assam – 177 rupees per day
Children are suffering from malnutrition and respiratory and water borne diseases due to pesticide use.
There are so many social issues and the best way to experience it is to watch the video below and get an inside look at what it’s like behind the tea estate fences.
The bitter story behind the UK’s national drink (Rowlatt BBC 2015 Sept)
The Human Rights Institute of the Columbia Law school has also written an academic paper called “The More things Change” (January 2014) on the plight of Indian Tea workers that supports the investigation of the BBC and the information presented in this section of the Indian tea commodity chain. Several other published academic papers have been written to support the unacceptable living and working conditions of tea workers in India.
Environmental Impact
Land – overfarmed, lack of nutrients in the soil, soil erosion, deforestation, losing rain forests – Lion Tailed Macque has become an endangered species through loss of habitat
Pesticide use by tea workers – airborne – causing respiratory issue as workers either do not use masks when spraying or their masks do not work and have not been replaced – respiratory and water-borne diseases account for 60-70% of disease affecting tea plantations workers (Forum for Future 19 Factors)
Pesticide use – because of the poor condition of the soil from overuse, bugs are more prevalent and therefore companies are using pesticides to combat the problem, most of the workers who are spraying the pesticide do not wear protective face protection gear and as a result are breathing in the pesticide, develop respiratory problems and illnesses related to pesticide, some of the workers have protective face/mouth gear, but the filters are clogged or need to be replaced
Contamination in the air due to pesticide use 2012 – 4 elephants died in India’s Kaziranga National Park after eating pesticide coated grass from a plantation
Alternative Energy options are being considered to reduce environmental impact of tea growing by using renewable energy, hydropower projects to reduce negative impact on ecosystems and water supplies (ethical consumer)