This Working Paper by the Centre for Development Studies, India 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.

This report presents the results of a literature review conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN in 2012 on the impact of voluntary standards on smallholders’ ability to participate in markets. The results are based on an analysis of over 100 studies across a range of commodity sectors and countries. Evidence for impacts, however, comes from studies of just three standards: Global GAP, Fairtrade and organic. Moreover, most studies focus on two commodities: coffee and horticulture products. The majority of studies focus on a handful of countries: Mexico, Kenya, Peru, Costa Rica and Uganda. The results of the review can be summarized as: first, equitable and sustainable supply chain linkages, increased access to assets, and support for cooperative development are incentives for complying with standards. Second, both public and private actors have comparative advantages for supporting voluntary standards and are most effective when combined. Finally, governments can provide services which facilitate the inclusion of smallholders in certified value chains. The study concludes by making policy recommendation on how the public sector can mediate the effects of voluntary standards.

In June 2016, Oxfam conducted a Vulnerability and Risk Assessment (VRA) exercise in Mulanje, Southern Malawi, in the context of the Malawi2020 Tea Revitalization Programme (Malawi2020). This programme aims to achieve a competitive, profitable tea industry that can provide living wages and incomes for its workers by 2020. The VRA sought to address the key hazards and issues affecting people and stakeholders in the tea-growing landscape of SOuthern Malawi, bringing together a wide range of stakeholders such as national governments representatives, estate managers, union delegates and unskiled tea industry workers. It analysed the mains issues facing the tea industry and the people involved in it, then drafted suggestions to reduce the risks they face and provide further inputs into the Malawi2020 Roadmap.

This article draws on data from a study of global tea and cocoa supply chains to explore the impact of wages on forced labour. It demonstrates that low-wage workers experience high vulnerability to forced labour in global supply chains and asserts that the role of wages in protecting workers from exploitation needs to be taken more seriously by scholars and policymakers.

The report is a background note which provides estimates on wages, employment levels and hours worked in the tea sector in three major tea producing countries:- India (2nd), Viet Nam (5th) and Indonesia (7th). The study is based on the analysis of 14 household and labour force surveys from India, Viet Nam and Indonesia. The report used the responses of 20,552 tea workers over the last two decades representing nearly 2.8 million workers.

A report from the WageIndicator Foundation and Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies which offers insights into actual wages, the cost of living and the content of collective labour agreements the Tea Estates, Ready Made Garment, Leather and Construction Industries in Bangladesh. The report forms part of a wider project aimed at achieving decent wages in Bangladesh.

Traidcraft Exchange’s successful campaign to persuade UK tea brands to publicise which estates they source their Assam tea from. Traidcraft Exchange brings people together, to fight injustice in trade. It's Traidcraft's mission to challenge the way global trade works - to use the power of trade to create lasting solutions to poverty.

This document constitutes an overview of the current production and trade situation for tea, as well as medium-term projections to 2023. Tea (Camellia sinensis) is the manufactured drink most consumed in the world. Discovered about 2700BC, it is one of the oldest beverages in the world. Today it is available for consumption in six main varieties, based on the oxidization and fermentation technique applied. The tea crop has rather specific agro-climatic requirements that are only available in tropical and subtropical climates, while some varieties can tolerate marine climates of British mainland and Washington area of the Unites States. The tea plant needs a hot, moist climate. Its specific requirements are temperatures ranging from 10-30oC (zone 8 climate or warmer), minimum annual precipitation of 1250 mm, preferably acidic soils, ideally 0.5-10 degree slopes and elevations up to 2000 meters. Tea production, therefore, is geographically limited to a few areas around the world and it is highly sensitive to changes in growing conditions. Importantly, its ideal growing conditions are at high risk and expected to significantly change under climate change.