Highlights: Tea industry under widespread strain; women tea workers can – and do – break cultural stereotypes; new resources on THIRST Knowledge Hub; invitation to take part in tea producer survey
Image: The eight sisters from Kericho that run Arnestea factory. They are; Nancy, Caroline, Betty, Judy, Rosemary, Audrey, Joyce and Valarie. [Nikko Tanui, Standard]
Contents
- THIRST News
- Summary
- Tea industry under widespread strain
- Governments intervene to help tea workers and farmers
- Efforts to add value at tea source
- Low prices persist in Bangladesh and India
- Varying fortunes of smallholder tea growers in different locations
- Women tea growers can – and do – break cultural stereotypes
- Make sure child labour is a thing of the past
- The two-way correlation between tea workers’ work and health
- This month’s news in detail
THIRST News
New on THIRST’s Knowledge Hub
We are continuously adding new resources to our Knowledge Hub. There you will find easily searchable database over 100 reports, briefing papers, academic papers, media articles, guidance tools, websites and initiatives on a vast range of perspectives on tea workers’ and farmers’ rights and their living and working conditions. Please let us know if you would like us to add your latest report, or if you don’t find the resource you are looking for on the Knowledge Hub. Here are the latest additions to the Knowledge Hub.
Responsible Purchasing Practices
Ethical Tea Partnership, May 2022.
This information sheet from the Ethical Tea Partnership considers the impact of poor purchasing practices and provides an overview of responsible purchasing practices. It outlines some of the steps businesses can take to improve their buying practices, drawing from the Ethical Trading Initiative’s Buying Responsibly Guide. The resource primarily applies to direct buying relationships but also offers some advice to businesses buying tea through auctions.
Can the Dalit woman speak?
Organization- Sage Journals, 2020.
Dr Ravi Raman explores in this paper the caste, class and gender dimensions of the Pempila Orumai uprising against male-dominated management, trade unions and politicians: “The case study involves both contemporary ethnographic and in-depth historical accounts sourced from the Dalit women’s protests at tea plantations in the south Indian state of Kerala in 2015 (along with pertinent secondary sources).”
Value Chain Configuration in the Indian Tea Economy: A Historical Perspective
Centre for Development Studies, India, September 2022.
This Working Paper provides a detailed, historical overview of value chains in the Indian tea sector, the ways in which these have been reconfigured over a period of 180 years and the events that led to those transitions.
Update on the Human Rights Impact Assessment of the tea sector
The questionnaire for our Global Tea Producers Survey is ready to be tested. We are in discussion with the tea producers’ associations of several countries and regions about disseminating it as widely as possible. The survey is not focusing on individual customers but on the tea purchasing system itself, and whether it may negatively impact on prices which may, in turn be affecting labour conditions.
We invite tea producers around the world to take this opportunity to make your point of view known – in complete confidence – about so that we can use the statistical evidence to inform our analysis of what could be done (and by whom) to improve tea workers and farmers’ conditions.
For more information or to confirm your participaion, please:
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Tea companies, NGOs, academics, journalists and consultants have all reported finding these updates useful and informative for their work. To be able to continue providing them, we need your support. Please consider making a regular contribution to help us continue to help you. £10 a month would go a long way towards helping us cover our core costs – but however much you can afford will be very gratefully received. (Invoices can be provided if required). This will also enable us to continue maintaining our unique Knowledge Hub of resources on human rights in the tea sector, convening roundtable discussions on topical issues, and conducting vital research into human rights in the tea sector, such as our ongoing Tea Sector Human Rights Impact Assessment. Thank you.
Tea News Summary
Disclaimer: The following updates consist of a summary of articles from the media – they are shared in the spirit of learning and do not necessarily reflect the views of THIRST. Please contact THIRST if you spot any factual errors or would like to raise any other issues connected with the Update. THIRST will not be held liable for any such inaccuracies in the articles summarised here or the external links provided.
Tea industry under widespread strain
The tea industry seems to be under more than the usual amount of stress this month, with a number of existential warnings due to stagnating prices, labour shortages, rising costs and climate impacts.
A Darjeeling tea planter says “We are headed towards large-scale shutdown of the entire industry…We see that a majority of the tea gardens are actually on the verge of bankruptcy…90 percent of the tea estates in Darjeeling are up for sale.” The Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation Corporation (TANTEA), which is facing financial stress and labour shortages, plans to close one of its processing units laying off staff, and has been instructed to hand back leased land to the forestry department.
‘The [Sri Lankan] tea industry is said to be “reeling from the after effects of a lack of fertiliser and glyphosate and an unsustainable wage model resulting in a stagnant position today… and “Due to the rise in costs sooner or later things will come to a standstill“. In Kenya, “The volume of tea auctioned at the Mombasa bourse has gone down significantly, with officials warning the trend may worsen in the next decade due to erratic weather.”
Governments intervene to help tea workers and farmers
Perhaps that is why there have been several reports of government intervention this month, particularly in Indian states: Assam is building new childcare centres and schools for children of tea workers; West Bengal‘s government is distributing free homes to tea workers of north Bengal, planning health centres and crèches and (for the first time) issuing identity cards to tea workers. It also disbursed financial assistance to jobless workers of two closed estates; Himachal Pradesh is distributing tea plants to farmers, and undertaking fresh plantation.
The Ugandan government is also making seedlings available to farmers; while the Rwandan taxable income threshold has been raised, which will benefit “formal workers who earn below Rwf 60,000”, of which there are said to be many in manufacturing sectors such as tea processing. Sri Lanka’s Plantations Minister instructed the tea board to treble tea workers’ festival bonus “in view of the high cost of living” and Taiwan’s government is taking a more technological approach and providing subsidies for agricultural drones. A task force has been formed to review operations of multinational tea firms in Kenya and their social and economic impact.
Efforts to add value at tea source
These interventions, while welcome, will not address the underlying economic problems of the industry. Hence Kenya’s President is pushing for the country’s value added tea for export to rise from 5 per cent to a minimum of 50 per cent in the next five years, announcing government collaboration with industry on a shared value addition facility to process and package Kenyan tea and plans to stop the export of raw tea; KTDA is also seeking government funding to expand its production of high value specialty tea following a surge in demand in the international market. In the meantime, KTDA is training farmers to grow climate-resilient crops, and chicken and dairy farming.
The private sector is also exploring adding value at source; tea entrepreneur, Raj Vable, is set to build a farmer-owned factory in India says tea since, he says, “can be a lucrative crop, if the farmers don’t just harvest the tea bush, but rather participate in the value chain.”
Low prices persist in Bangladesh and India
But for sustained improvements, ‘value added’ needs to be rewarded with good prices, and the issue of low prices is repeatedly raised: in Bangladesh “…those working in the fields at the primary stage say… the price of tea leaves has been on a downward trend, falling to Tk14 from Tk39 per kg around 15 years ago. And in South India: “…[T]he price of green leaves has nose-dived from Rs 16 per kilogram to Rs 8-10 in one month. While “The biggest challenge being faced by the Assam Tea Industry is the stagnancy in tea prices, high cost of production and low productivity…and Assam’s 100,000 small farmers… say they cannot meet the minimum wage which now applies to them as well as larger plantation while the price for green leaf is so low.”
Varying fortunes of smallholder tea growers in different locations
Kenya’s small-scale tea grower earnings grew by more than half to Sh20 billion in the third quarter of the year, helped by the government-backed minimum price of $2.43 (Sh291) per kilogramme that protected their revenue. But tea farmers in Assam, required financial support from the Salesian Mission to repay loans incurred or regain ownership of land mortgaged in times of financial crisis; and tea smallholders in Sri Lanka are also benefitting from alternative income generation activities plus “replanting of old unproductive tea lands with high-yielding cultivations.”
Women tea growers can – and do – break cultural stereotypes
Eight Kenyan sisters “have broken the glass ceiling in the tea industry with the establishment of Sh100 million Ernestea Factory”. They were breaking a cultural stereotype highlighted by research in Malawi that found that although women and men smallholder tea farmers “understood the concept and importance of gender equity, they did not practice it“. The organisation has created women-only forums to help them “to challenge cultural stereotypes [and] to not shy away from taking on leadership positions…”
Make sure child labour is a thing of the past
The Tea Association of India claims that there is no child labour in the tea industry, but Dr Aditi Smith Gogoi, assistant professor at Assam Agricultural University called for “a code of ethical purchase, under which major buyers will make sure that they get their tea only from those producers who do not engage children for work.”
The two-way correlation between tea workers’ work and health
The two-way correlation between work and health was evident in last month’s news; while Indian tea workers continued to suffer injuries and death from wild animal attacks, (in Jharkhand) and industrial accidents (in Assam) and “rampant malnutrition has let to a rise in TB among [tea] workers” in north Bengal, donors supported eyesight and sanitation programmes in several tea origins to help improve famer income and worker productivity.
THIS MONTH’S TEA NEWS IN DETAIL
TEA INDUSTRY UNDER WIDESPREAD STRAIN
[Darjeeling] Tea growers are grappling with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the market, while also dealing with the effects of climate change: “We are headed towards large-scale shutdown of the entire industry…We see that a majority of the tea gardens are actually on the verge of bankruptcy… I would say that 90 percent of the tea estates in Darjeeling are up for sale.” Sparsh Agarwal, co-founder of Dorje Teas and a committee member of the Tea Research Association of India. [Arab News]
Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation Corporation (TANTEA) plans to close its processing unit at Valparai and shift employees to Nilgiris. [It] has offered Voluntary Retirement from Service (VRS) to employees who are above the age of 50 years [and] will shift other remaining employees to Nilgiris district… About half of the total workers in Valparai are above the age of 50. [TANTEA will] “make arrangements including residential facility and monetary benefits.” [New Indian Express]
Kenya: “The volume of tea auctioned at the Mombasa bourse has gone down significantly, with officials warning the trend may worsen in the next decade due to erratic weather. Latest figures from the East African Tea Trade Association (EATTA) show the volume of tea offered on the auction dipped by almost 500,000 kilogrammes in the last trade, the second time in a row the quantities have declined in less than a month.” [The East African]
A task force has been formed to review operations of multinational tea firms in three counties [of Kenya]. The main terms of reference for the task force will be to come up with recommendations on the social and economic impact of the current and emerging challenges on the residents of Kericho, including but not limited to heavy mechanisation of multinationals and other tea sub-sectors. [Its aims to] “Analyse the roles of different stakeholder segments and make recommendations on how they can collaborate among themselves and with the county governments to develop the tea sub-sector” [and] is also mandated to review the challenges facing the multinationals and other tea sub-sector stakeholders within Kericho County and make appropriate recommendations. [Star Media]
The Sri Lanka tea industry is reeling from the after effects of a lack of fertiliser and glyphosate and an unsustainable wage model resulting in a stagnant position today, and this is causing a shift of exporter operations to other more viable markets over a period of time. “Due to the rise in costs sooner or later things will come to a standstill, [according to] PA spokesman Dr. Roshan Rajadurai… “Workers should be self-managed and the agricultural inputs like fertiliser and glyphosate made available,” he said. [Sunday Times] [see also Economy Next]
GOVERNMENTS INTERVENE TO HELP TEA WORKERS AND FARMERS
On the second day of her Assam visit, [India’s President Draupadi]Murmu visited the Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra in the Panjabari area of the capital in the morning and laid foundation stones virtually for two state government projects and six centrally funded projects, among others. These included 3,000 new anganwadis across the state and 100 high schools for children of tea garden workers… [Indian Express]
The Bengal government is speeding up the process of distributing free homes to tea workers of north Bengal… [In addition] “The distribution of identity cards has started and there is a plan to finish the task by January next year. This is the first time tea workers are getting an identity card issued by the state government. Also, identification of sites or health centres and crèches have started,” said a source in the state labour department. [Telegraph India]
The state government has ordered the Tamil Nadu Tea Plantatition Corporation Ltd (Tantea), to hand over 2,152 of the 4,053 hectares of leased forest land to the forest department. The move would result in the closure of two divisions of Tantea at Valparai and Naduvattam… Pointing out that Tantea was not only reeling under severe financial stress but also facing shortage of workforce, forest minister K Ramachandran said the move would help bring in effective reforms in Tantea… The minister said the land…would be developed as a natural forest by planting grass seedlings and indigenous tree saplings. [Times of India]
Himachal Pradesh, India: Facing a challenge to revive 53 per cent (about 1,200 hectare) of abandoned area under tea cultivation, the Agriculture Department is distributing one lakh plants among farmers, besides undertaking fresh plantation…tea cultivation in the hill state hasn’t shown encouraging results owing to small and scattered landholding, lack of labour, high labour cost, low yield, high production cost and lack of market. The tea auction centre in Kolkata is far away and involves high transportation cost. [Tribune India]
The [West Bengal] district administration… disbursed three months of financial assistance, along with an ex gratia, to the jobless workers of two tea estates lying closed for years now, ahead of Durga Puja… the administration transferred the money to the bank accounts of 345 workers of Dheklapara tea estate, which has been closed since 2002, and 1,204 workers of Lankapara, another tea garden shut for the past 11 years. According to administrative sources, each worker receives Rs 1,500 per month under the FAWLOI (Financial Assistance to Workers of Locked Out Industries) scheme. [The Telegraph Online]
“[C]offee and tea farmers have had to grapple with the uncertainty of not having enough seedlings ahead of the planting season. These sectors, especially coffee, are key to Uganda’s economy. We, therefore, welcome the decision by the government to release Shs30b towards the supply of seedlings to coffee and tea farmers.” [Monitor]
Rwanda’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN) has “increase[d] the taxable monthly income cap to Rwf60,000 (or Rwf720,000 per year) from the previous Rwf30,000 (or Rwf360,000 per year) that was set in 2005. According to MINECOFIN, all sectors and activities of the Economy have formal workers who earn below Rwf60,000… [but], there is more in manufacturing activities (tea and coffee factories’ employees) [among other industries].” [New Times Rwanda]
Plantation Industries Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana… informed the Sri Lanka Tea Board to… increase the festival allowance given to plantation workers to Rs.15,000… on a loan basis. [He was responding to a] request made by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa to to increase the festival allowance to Rs.15,000 from the current amount of Rs. 5,000 in view of the high cost of living. [Daily News]
Taiwan: “Uncrewed quadcopters are being tested as dusters on tea farms in the Wuhe (舞鶴) area of Haulien County’s Ruisui Township (瑞穗), the Council of Agriculture… The project is part of the government’s effort to facilitate the upgrade of tea plantations to produce black oolong tea in middle and low-altitude regions in eastern Taiwan, the Taitung branch of the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau said…The government is providing subsidies for agricultural drones through a program that seeks to encourage farmers to use labor-saving technology, Agriculture and Food Agency Eastern District Deputy Director Chen Chi-tsun (陳吉村) said.” [Taipei Times]
EFFORTS TO ADD VALUE AT TEA SOURCE
President William Ruto has directed the Ministry of Trade to develop a Kenyan tea brand to guarantee farmers good returns from their labour…The President added that in the next five years Kenya’s value added tea for export must rise from 5 per cent to 50 per cent at the minimum, noting that competitors are producing approximately 60 percent of what Kenya produces but earn three times because they are adding value to their tea. He announced that the government will work with industry players to build a shared value addition facility at Dongo Kundu in Mombasa to process and package Kenyan tea. [All Africa]
The Kenya Tea development Agency (KTDA) is seeking Sh800 million from the government to expand its production line for high value specialty tea following a surge in demand in the international market. Agency chairman David Ichoho says it has so far received six-month upfront orders from the international buyers. Mr Ichoho said they want to put up specialty tea production lines in 10 more factories to cater for the expanded order book. [Business Daily Africa]
“Kenya is planning to hit the brakes on the export of all raw tea in an effort to beef up revenues for farmers and create jobs. President William Ruto said the move is part of a long-term plan to boost earnings from agriculture, including livestock, cotton and other cash crops, by compelling producers to process the goods domestically. President Ruto said farmers stand to earn more if they embrace value addition instead of exporting raw commodities.” [Star Media]
“While on a Fulbright Fellowship in 2013, Raj Vable calculated that tea farmers in northern India earned 10 cents per pound of leaves and the factory sold a pound for eight dollars, or eight thousand percent more. He promised to change that… “The idea is that tea is a lucrative crop, or it can be a lucrative crop, if the farmers don’t just harvest the tea bush, but rather participate in the value chain.” [So his company] Young Mountain Tea is set to build a farmer-owned factory [which] will process 75,000 pounds of tea per year, enough to sustain a village of a couple hundred people.” [KLCC]
VARYING FORTUNES OF SMALLHOLDER TEA GROWERS IN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS
“Small-scale tea grower earnings grew by more than half to Sh20 billion in the third quarter of the year, helped by the government-backed minimum price of $2.43 (Sh291) per kilogramme that protected their revenue. Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) says the earnings were more than the Sh13 billion that was recorded in the corresponding period last year… KTDA says green leaf deliveries by farmers to 71 factories that it manages dropped to 197 million kilos in the July-September period compared to 225.8 million kilos last year, with the decline attributed to poor rainfall.” [Business Daily Africa]
Tea farmers in the Tinsukia District, in the state of Assam, India, received financial support thanks to donor funding from Salesian Missions… tea estates … laborers… despite working long hours often do not earn enough wages to meet their basic needs or escape poverty. Many tea laborers own small parcels of land but, for various reasons, leave the land uncultivated while they leave home to work at larger tea estates. In times of financial crisis, they are often forced to mortgage their land for small loans. When they are unable to repay the loans, the land is forfeited. Salesian missionaries in India, aware of this difficult situation, are working to provide opportunities for tea laborers to break the cycle of poverty. [Mission Newswire]
“Growers on small tea farms in Assam must now pay wages equal to those at the largest commercial gardens. Smallholders say the well-intentioned mandate significantly adds to the cost of production at a time when bought-leaf prices are very low… The minimum means that a small tea grower who receives 350-450 rupees from a bought leaf factory for the 24 kilos of raw leaf required of each worker will now pay 50-65% of the bought leaf price in cash wages. Assam’s 100,000 small farmers… say they cannot meet the minimum wage while the price for green leaf is so low.” [Tea Biz Blog]
Sri Lanka: Smallholder Tea & Rubber Revitalization (STaRR) project beneficiaries representing the tea smallholder development societies… [will be strengthened by the initiation of] alternative income generation activities including home gardening, dairy farming, production of organic fertilizers, growing and selling cash crops… Supporting the replanting of old unproductive tea lands with high-yielding cultivations… as means to improve the livelihood of people, are in practice at present under project interventions. [Daily News]
Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) foundation and Adapta, a Nairobi-based climate adaptation Fintech have today signed an agreement to launch the farmers’ tea replanting and income diversification program. The program aims on training farmers to grow climate-resilient crops, and chicken and dairy farming. The five years KTDA Adapta program will be key to ensuring sustainable yearly production and improved farmers’ livelihoods as well as protection of the environment. [KTN News – video]
LOW PRICES PERSIST IN BANGLADESH AND INDIA
Bangladesh: “…those working in the fields at the primary stage say… the price of tea leaves has been on a downward trend, falling to Tk14 from Tk39 per kg around 15 years ago. “The production cost per kilogramme of tea leaves is Tk18, but we have to sell it for Tk14. The factories also subtract 20kg-40 from our 100kg, saying the weight is due to the wetness of the leaves. As a result, farmers get a price of only Tk7-8 per kg… We have no choice but to sell the tea leaves to the factories. As a result, we are suffering losses day after day.” [tea farmer Kazi Mahbubur Rahman] [But] “Currently, we… cannot pay the right price to the farmers due a price drop in the auction market,” [Md Jahangir, president of the Bangladesh Bought Leaf Factory Owners Association]. [The Business Standard]
South India: “…[T]he price of green leaves has nose-dived from Rs 16 per kilogram to Rs 8-10 in one month. The fall has come at a time when farmers are enjoying a good yield following heavy rain and favourable weather conditions…Small-scale Tea Growers Association state president Y C Stephen said… “The minimum support price fixed by the Tea Board for the current month is Rs 13.31, but the farmers are getting only Rs 8-10… A labourer should be given Rs 650 per day to pluck 30kg of green tea leaves. A kilogram of tea dust fetches Rs 300-350. Since small-scale farmers can’t meet the expense for the labour and they pluck leaves with the help of their family members,” …farmers have been demanding a minimum support price of Rs 22 per one kilogram of green tea leaves to overcome the crisis.” [New Indian Express]
“The biggest challenge being faced by the Assam Tea Industry is the stagnancy in tea prices, high cost of production and low productivity…If there is any solution to this problem that is to improve the competitiveness of the industry in terms of productivity. In the liberalized regime of world trade, paramount importance has to be given to the marketing of tea. The crisis in the tea industry has a huge negative impact on the family life of the plantation workers and all others associated with the Industry.” Bharatiya Chah Parishad (BCP) chairman Nalin Khemani [North East Now]
WOMEN TEA GROWERS CAN – AND DO – BREAK CULTURAL STEREOTYPES
Working with the Nsuwadzi Tea Association, [Malawi] a smallholder out-growers association, [the Women’s Legal Resources Centre] WOLREC explored legal empowerment as a tool for strengthening the agency of Nsuwadzi smallholder tea farmers, exploring how to realise their rights to choose, act and affect change in line with their priorities and needs…The findings showed that although women and men understood the concept and importance of gender equity, they did not practice it. Women clearly saw the value of leadership, of building knowledge and skills, of contributing to and developing their communities but did not associate themselves with leadership…Responding to the gender audit, WOLREC supported the creation of women-only forums where women would gather and were equipped with skills to challenge cultural stereotypes, to not shy away from taking on leadership positions, and to actively contribute to the development of their communities. Women built skills in public speaking, leadership – nurturing women leaders and instilling the importance of gender-balanced leadership and negotiation − and advocacy. [The Good Men Project]
Eight sisters…have broken the glass ceiling in the tea industry with the establishment of Sh100 million Ernestea Factory… “When the Tea Board of Kenya in 2016 changed the policy to allow farmers with 20 hectares or more to engage in the cottage industry, our parents rallied us to invest in a factory to produce orthodox tea…”. The factory processes between 2,500 and 3,500 kg of tea leaves daily… [In addition to camellia sinensis] …the sisters decided to add value and focus on herbal teas that are gaining popularity because of their health benefits… they sell the processed tea to blenders, packers, brokers, supermarkets, and tea houses. “We also sell it online, internationally, and in selected outlets locally and internationally. [Star Media]
MAKE SURE CHILD LABOUR IS A THING OF THE PAST
“The Tea Association of India (TAI) made a candid statement that the tea plantations (gardens) had long back stopped engaging child labourers in strict adherence to the relevant laws of the land. [The secretary general of TAI, P K Bhattacharjee was] [a]ddressing a multi-stake holders’ consultation on ‘Business and child rights in tea supply chain’… Dr Aditi Smith Gogoi, assistant professor at Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat… emphasised the need for a code of ethical purchase, under which major buyers will make sure that they get their tea only from those producers who do not engage children for work.” [The Shillong Times]
THE TWO-WAY CORRELATION BETWEEN TEA WORKERS’ WORK AND HEALTH
“Rampant malnutrition has led to a rise in TB among workers [in north Bengal, India], many of whom are already grapping [sic] with loss of livelihood. With the disease taking a steep toll on their mental and physical health, the labourers are hoping for their abandoned gardens to reopen” [The Hindu]
India: A woman from Jharkhand, who was working at a tea estate at Valparai, was injured in an attack by a sloth bear… [P. Sabitha Kumari] came out of the staff quarters at 5.50 a.m. to use the common toilet on the premises. She had a close encounter with a sloth bear which mauled her. The woman shouted out for help and the bear went inside bushes as other residents came for her help. The woman’s both hands were injured in the attack by the animal. [The Hindu] A worker was severely injured while working at Fatemabad Tea Garden in Assam’s Baksa district when his leg got stuck in the CTC machine on Sunday. [Pratidin Time]
A $15 million grant from billionaire philanthropist Mackenzie Scott to VisionSpring, a social enterprise, will go toward providing eyeglasses to farmers and artisans in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa… The $15 million grant will kick-start VisionSpring’s new $70 million campaign called Livelihoods in Focus, which aims to improve the incomes of coffee, tea, cocoa, and artisan workers in India, Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda by fixing the issue of blurry vision, which holds back their earning potential. [DevEx]
“On October 3, the international NGO [WaterAid] unveiled its latest research report – Business Promotion: Why Invest in Clean Water and Sanitation? It found that clean water, toilets and hand washing facilities increase productivity and often drive a return on investment. The research was conducted in 10 workplaces and communities in four countries in four sectors: garment factories in Bangladesh, leather processing plants in India, tea mills in Kenya and India, and smallholder farmers in Tanzania.” [Phnom Penh Post]
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