You must have seen tea plantations. This beverage is cultivated in small farmlands which have individual owners. These small plots of land are a part of large estate harvesting acres of tea of different types. These small scale farmers have to face many challenges as there is competition with tea plantations. Farmers sell tea leaves to these plantations and receive low price for their product.

However, globally the scenario is a little different. Most tea production takes place on commercial plantations called tea gardens or tea estates. They employ workers for plucking leaves, weeding and pruning the tea bushes and maintaining the estate. Huge number of workers is also employed in the tea factory owned by that estate. Now, wages of these workers pretty low and their condition is also meager.   

Fair-trade Standard in Tea Industry

What is Fair-trade?

Fair-trade offers living wages, fair prices as well as community benefits to workers, farmers and their families. Fair- trade Standard works together with farmers for empowering them and producing raw ingredients at fair price and with better trading terms. They also provide additional fund for community and business development. Fair-trade is beneficial to different sectors like environmental sustainability, health care and education. With this standard, workers get benefitted from humane and improved working conditions.

Fair-trade Standard has come up to improve the condition of the workers in tea estates as well as small scale farmers. It is designed to enhance employment condition of these workers and farmers and protect their rights. They provide support to farmers and workers to give them more control in tea supply and raise their revenues. Fair-trade Standard for tea workers is like a safety net against all kinds of unpredictable market scenarios ensures that cultivators get a price coverage for their production cost.

Fair-trade offers specific standards to support the workers of different tea plantations. They are making attempts to bring industry-wide change across tea industry to improve living wage of workers. Fair-trade Premium is one of its packages that benefit community projects, housing, healthcare and education. Fair-trade International works in collaboration with other tea partners. This standard tends to bring progress to living wages, though it is a long journey. It is an active participant in tea industry that aims at building a sustainable industry for the times to come. With their effort, Fair-trade intends to make better wages a commitment in the chain of tea supply.