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Tea

En Français 日本語 View a list of Rainforest Alliance Certified farms.

Originating in China, tea has been a popular pick-me-up for thousands of years. Black, green and other teas are made from the leaves of the same plant, Camellia sinensis, which grows in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. India, China, Kenya Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Argentina, Brazil and other countries export large volumes of the dried and shredded leaf. Globally, about 2.4 million hectares (six million acres) are planted in tea, often in large plantations called "estates."

Tea is a year-round source of employment, especially for pluckers who carefully pick the top three or so leaves from every branch on the bush. Like any tropical crop, tea raises a number of issues for workers and the surrounding environment. Tea replaces biodiversity-rich tropical forests with a beautiful but single-species monoculture. Soil erosion, competition for water, pollution from fertilizers, and the need for firewood to fuel tea dryers are some of the main environmental concerns. Workers face challenges around wages, labor organization, housing, health care and other rights.

By following the Sustainable Agriculture Network standards, growers can proactively address the social and environmental challenges associated with tea farming. The Rainforest Alliance organized multi-stakeholder meetings in Kenya to gather input on the standards, ensuring that they are as effective for tea as they have been for coffee, bananas and other crops.

The first Rainforest Alliance Certified tea farm is in Kericho, Kenya; an estate owned by Unilever that supplies Lipton and PG Tips brands. The estate has been working on sustainable tea farming practices for more than a decade. Here, the workers are paid more than the minimum wage; they and their families have access to health care, schooling, decent housing and other benefits.

While Unilever manages large estates, much of Kenya's tea is grown by smallholders, including the 218,000 members of the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA), a farming cooperative. The Rainforest Alliance is working with KTDA farmers to ensure that the program benefits both large and small farms as well as workers.