STiR coffee and tea magazine

Volume 3, Number 6

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30 STiR tea & coffee industry international E BANDUNG, West Java Front row, left, delegates Arun Singh, India, Kotaro Tanimoto, Japan; and Hiroshi Nishipawa, World Green Tea Association stablishing an International Confedera- tion of Smallholders identified by a global brand will help retail customers better un- derstand the contribution made by small tea grow- ers, an idea endorsed by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Committee on Commodity Problems. Nine million of the 13 million persons em- ployed in the global tea industry are smallholder farmers, producing 60% of the world's tea. The confederation could encourage commercial tea brands to inform customers that some or a portion of their product comes from small family-owned tea gardens. Global production by smallholders is increas- ing. The acreage under tea in China grew by 73% in the decade ending 2010. In Kenya smallhold- ers account for 62% of tea production while 76% of total production in Sri Lanka is from gardens less than 50 acres in size. Indonesia's smallholders farm 43% of the tea lands and India smallholders account for 31% of the 1.2 million metric tons of India's processed tea. Delegates to the 21st Inter-governmental Group on Tea (IGG) urgently pressed for harmo- nized standards for pesticide residue which vary greatly by country. Inconsistent thresholds for maximum residue level (MRLs) severely impact small growers cultivating tea for export. (See pg. 33, MRL Harmonization) Two days of deliberations at the biennial confer- ence led to several recommendations including: • Agreement on promotional efforts to in- crease per capita consumption to 400 grams, a sizeable increase in many countries where tea is grown but not widely consumed. • An endorsement of green farming methods and organic tea cultivation as a way to reduce smallholder reliance on fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. • Promotion of the cultivation of tea hybrids, such as drought-resistant cultivars developed to better cope with changing climate. • Establishment of an International Confedera- tion of Tea Smallholders to develop a logo, a trademark, and possibly an internationally-rec- ognized brand for the value-added tea prod- ucts grown by smallholders. FAO's motto, "Fiat Panis," ("Let there be bread") expresses the hope and conviction, backed by willfulness, that the future will see well-fed com- munities living in harmony across the globe. FAO advocates global food security, moving people out of poverty toward the threshold of hope, and into a land of plenty. The current market for tea and the develop- ments seen in the medium term was the subject of a comprehensive opening report by IGG on Tea secretary, Kaison Chang. The information was compiled from both local (national) data and mac- ro-economic statistics from the IMF, World Bank, and OECD. World tea production increased evenly from 2009 to 2013, from 4 million metric tonnes (mmt) to just over 5 mmt (5 billion kilos or 5.5 million short tons) in response to firm prices during that period. China led the way as the top producer overall (and top producer of green tea). It pro- duced 38% of the world's total tea output in 2013. India is next, followed by Kenya and Sri Lanka, which are the two largest tea exporting countries and dominant black tea exports. On the consumption side, there was a rise of 5% in 2013 to 4.84 mmt. This was due to dramatic growth in per capita income in China and India. Chang used "spectacular" to describe China's tea consumption, which stands at 1.6 mmt in all forms. India is second at 1 mmt. By Frank Miller IGG Tea Endorses Global Confederation of Tea Smallgrowers and Consistent MRLs Ratio of tea smallholders to tea estates by country: China 80:20% Sri Lanka 65:35 Kenya 60:40 India 30:70 Source: TCC 2010, ETP 2011 The Peace Gong

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