In December 2009, according to Trade Forum, a group of 12,500 smallholder tea farmers achieved Rainforest Alliance certification through a public-private partnership (PPP) project between Unilever (world’s biggest tea company), the Rainforest Alliance and the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA). The scale of the partnership has started a revolution in the same way that the coffee industry has been influenced by the sustainability movement of the past decade, particularly in light of the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s recommendations to smallholders in emerging economies to meet the increased demands for world food production.
Kenya is the world’s largest tea exporter producing around 320,000 tonnes of tea annually. More than half of which or about 60% is produced by KTDA. KTDA brings together around 560,000 smallholders, each owning a small plot of tea, sometimes not more than one acre. KTDA’s Momul factory dries and processes the green leaf into black tea and then shipped to Unilever’s processing plants for blending and packaging into tea bags.
On their small, yet carefully managed plots of land, each farmer had to implement ecosystem, water and soil conservation practices and wildlife protection and agrochemical reduction processes to meet the strict standards of the Sustainable Agricultural Network (SAN), a coalition of leading conservation groups, and in order to earn the right to use the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal on their products. The standard also guarantees workers’ rights and safety and also decent housing, legal wages and contracts for workers.
Rainforest Alliance’s Manager for East Africa and South Asia Marc Monsarat said that Kenya has the largest single group certified in their certification system to date.
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