Autovending April09

Report
Kenya Diary:
PART FIVE
This month we take a look at the business of producing tea and visit a smallholder
farmer seeking Rainforest Alliance certiﬁ cation.
Proﬁ t. Every business has to make one in order For Unilever, the commitment to sustainability
to justify its existence, survive and prosper and, in would appear to be part of the answer. This is
doing so, ensure the people it employs are able a commonsense approach, which makes good
to enjoy a reasonable standard of living. ﬁ nancial as well as environmental sense - for
When you think of Unilever and its huge tea example, Unilever’s hydro-electric power plant
brands, PG tips and Lipton, you can’t help but at Jamji not only produces by far the most
think, big money. The reality for Unilever Tea environmentally friendly power for the company,
Kenya, UTK, however, is a business that is facing but is also the most reliable supply and the most
economic pressures from many different angles. cost-effective.
What’s more, Unilever wants to share its
knowledge with others. It is pioneering an Langat’s farm occupies 2.3 acres of land, of which
approach to tea production that it wants others 1.2 acres is dedicated to tea. The farm is run by
to follow with a view to bringing an improved Esther, as Simion is heavily involved in the Farmer
way of life to more than two million people Field School. It was really encouraging to hear
worldwide. at ﬁ rst hand the beneﬁ ts that implementing
I was very fortunate whilst in Kericho in sustainable farming can bring - and not just in
that we were able to witness at ﬁ rst hand terms of increased revenue.
how the introduction of sustainable farming For instance, a project was carried out to
Figures that we were given on our visit to practices, through the Rainforest Alliance was assess tea-plucking methods. The project covered
Kericho reported that since 1999 there has been starting to bring beneﬁ ts to smallholder tea a sample of 90 bushes from each participating
around three per cent more production than farmers. When Unilever ﬁ rst announced its farm and split the sample into three sets of
consumption in the world tea market. Since the commitment to Rainforest Alliance, it naturally 30. Tea from each set was plucked at different
year 2000, prices in US Dollars have also been on started with securing certiﬁ cation for its own intervals to try to determine the optimum time
the decline (tea is traded in USD). Compounding major estates, starting with Kericho. However, it between plucking. It was found that 7-8 days
that is the effect of the exchange rate - the cannot rely purely on its own estates to supply interval produced the best yield and was most
Kenyan Shilling has been falling against the dollar all of the green leaf it needs to meet its market time-efﬁ cient too. The results of studies like this
since 2002 so, even when there is a peak in the commitments and therefore buys a signiﬁ cant have brought signiﬁ cant beneﬁ ts. Simion Langat
price paid for tea, such as when prices rose by 22 amount of tea from smallholder farmers. For showed us ﬁ gures to substantiate increased
per cent in 2006, the actual increase in Kenyan a number of years UTK has been working to production - from 5,655 Kg in 2005/6 to 8,039
Shillings was only 15 per cent. In real terms, to support these smallholder farmers through Kg in 2006/7.
the producer in Kenya, the price of tea has gone its sustainable agriculture programme. In 2006 Other beneﬁ ts of the sustainable agriculture
down by around 35 per cent in 25 years. it entered into a partnership with the UK’s programme include learning about pollution
Wages in the tea industry in Kenya are also Department for International Development and control; this farm no longer uses agro-chemical
increasing over and above the rate of inﬂ ation. the Kenya Tea Development Agency, KTDA, to controls but biological; soil erosion has been
For UTK, wage increases are negotiated on an communicate its tea sustainability guidelines to reduced by planting trees along the boundaries;
annual basis with the Union and an increase 450,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya through weeds have been reduced by planting beans
is always agreed. In 2008, when we visited, the Farmer Field Schools. This initiative helps among the young trees; the farm is friendly to
increase was 10 per cent, with a further 10 per smallholder farmers to gain the knowledge and wild animals and composting produces natural
cent increase already conﬁ rmed for the following support that they need in order to implement fertilisers. Farming practices have been improved
year. The cost of labour as a percentage of total sustainable farming practices and realise the and overall better management has been
costs is now more than 50 per cent. beneﬁ ts. introduced, not least of which is the introduction
So, with falling prices for your product and the We visited one of these smallholder farms, of monitoring processes - for instance, a monthly
rising costs of labour to produce it, what is the which, at the time, was preparing for its ﬁ rst production chart and other records are now
answer for a business that, like any other, must audit by the Rainforest Alliance and was hoping maintained, including a plucking chart, enabling the
make a proﬁ t to survive? to achieve certiﬁ cation.* Esther and Simion farm to see how well it has been doing and how
changes have produced positive results.
Smallholders Esther and Simion
Langat (left) with representatives
* At the time of going to press
from the KTDA.
I have not been able to ﬁ nd
out whether they were
successful or not.
Next month, in our ﬁ nal report from Kericho,
I learn about the work done by UTK’s Plant
Improvement Centre.
www.auto-vending.co.uk April 2009 21
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