Sustainable tea from Unilever

SUSTAINABLE TEA FROM UNILEVER
 
Unilever has a long track record in promoting sustainable farming practices in tea production. The organisation owns and manages 11,000 hectares of tea gardens in East Africa, producing 46,000 tonnes of tea each year and employing 26,000 people.

Unilever acquired its own tea estate in Kericho, Kenya in 1984, and has worked hard to improve the standard of living of workers and ensure that farming practices are in harmony with the environment.   For many years Unilever has provided the following in Kericho:

• Free housing, medical care and schools for over 120,000 people 
• Education bursaries for children of the workforce and students from the neighbouring communities of our tea estates. In 2007, the company supported the education of 30 employees' children and 24 financially disadvantaged students from the company 
• Award-winning HIV/AIDS education, prevention and care programmes 
• Vitality programmes – empowering both employees and members of the community to be wiser in their lifestyle choices and to be healthier 
• Good Agricultural Practices Guidelines, which Unilever has been working on since 1992. The company works closely with a range of stakeholders – such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform (SAI) to improve standards everywhere 
• Award winning environmental projects – Unilever Tea Kenya Trees 2000 is an indigenous tree-planting project that has planted over 320,000 indigenous trees within the Unilever Tea Kenya limited estates and has donated a similar number of seedlings to the wider community 
• Renewable energy sources – 100 per cent of energy used in the estates comes from hydropower and renewable eucalyptus forests. 

Other tea farms across Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Indonesia, India, Argentina and Sri Lanka, are following similar steps in sustainable farming practices. It is expected that up to two million people around the world will benefit from better crops, better incomes and better livelihoods.

THE UNILEVER AND RAINFOREST ALLIANCE STORY   In 2007 Unilever, the world's largest tea company, set about revolutionising the tea industry by committing to purchasing all its tea from sustainable, ethical sources. Unilever invited the Rainforest Alliance to work with them to apply the sustainable farming standards represented by the Rainforest Alliance Certified™ seal

This was the first time a major tea company had committed to introducing tea from sustainably certified farms on such a large scale and the first time the Rainforest Alliance, better known for coffee certification, had worked with tea growers (or with the tea industry).
 
Although Unilever's commitment pledge was only announced in 2007, more than 30 estates have already achieved Rainforest Alliance Certified™ status, including Unilever's own estates in Kenya and Tanzania and third-party suppliers in India and Argentina. At the end of 2008 at least 50% of the tea in Lipton Yellow Label and PG tips sold in Western Europe came from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms.
 
More recently, eight South Indian and four Indonesian estates have earned certification, which together support 3,500 workers and their dependants. To achieve certification the farms invested in a range of improvements, including protective suits for workers dealing with agrochemicals, wastewater treatment equipment and micro hydro-electric schemes. In South India, workers also benefit from free housing, medical facilities and school education for every child.
 
In May 2009 Unilever was recognised for its commitment to sustainability and presented with the Corporate Green Globe honour by the Rainforest Alliance.
 
WORKING WITH SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
 
In addition to large suppliers, many smallholder farmers form part of Unilever's agricultural supply chain. These farmers are often on uncertain incomes, and struggle to access capital and the right information to improve the efficiency of their growing techniques. They are also subject to price volatility and varying demand. With Unilever sourcing from around 100,000 such farmers, it is an area they can make a difference in.
 
Unilever participated in a joint initiative with the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA), the UK's department for International Development and Wageningen University in the Netherlands to train smallholder farmers in sustainable tea cultivation.

Unilever's products are available from ipa through 3663 and Brakes. For more information about their products, please contact ipa on 01372 466966 or email: enquiries@ipapurchasing.co.uk

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