There's a tea revolution brewing in Marsh Farm Estate
It's so refreshing to hear about communities taking responsibility for themselves and trying to improve the way they live. That's what the residents of March Farm Estate in Luton are doing thanks to the nations favourite tipple...tea. The 9,600 residents of the estate, which has seen riots back in the 90s due to poverty and drug addiction, have invested in one tonne of single estate tea from a group of growers in the Nilgiri Hills of southern India. The tea is being sold door to door, on market stalls and in a few of the local shops. A pack of 40 tea bags costs only 75p, which is not that remarkable considering some of the big supermarkets sell their own brands and value lines for this kind of price, but what is remarkable is that this tea is a fair trade product.
[via The Guardian]
But the Nilgiri tea is not just cheap, says Stan Thekaekara, an Oxfam UK trustee and a fellow at the Saeed Business School in Oxford who has brought the Indian tea growers together with social activists on the estate. He maintains that it is "the most fairly-traded, ethical tea in the world, sold without subsidies, handouts, charity or premium prices".
Fair trade products are now a huge business in the UK with over £100 million worth of items being sold each year, and this figure is rising by around 40% annually. But as Mr Thekaekara points out it's mainly sold in supermarkets and specialist health food stores and because of this it is seen as a middle class thing, which is priced accordingly.
"Fair trade is more expensive. The supermarkets make the most profit out of it and nothing really changes in the trading system. Tea does not become a penny cheaper for the people who drink it by the gallon on British housing estates, and workers' children still face starvation and malnutrition on tea estates everywhere. It has become a brand. If poor people cannot drink fairly traded tea, then it seems wrong."
From the residents point of view, this isn't just a great business idea, it also has a practical side . The Marsh Farm outreach group who are a not-for-profit company who grew out of 90s rave culture carried out a survey which found that the residents of the estate bought almost 3500 tonnes of the cheapest low quality tea each year. "We found that 97% of people here were prepared to change their tea, then we did a blind tasting and our tea was chosen as the best quality," says Glenn Jenkins, a community worker and former train driver.
"We are becoming the middle men, cutting out the speculators. At least 50% of the retail price of any product goes to the wholesalers or supermarkets. We reckon we can sell it and it will help keep money on the estate and help us regenerate."
The tribes people who grow the crops are also very please with the partnership as they get nearly 15% more than they would if the tea was sold on the open market, and will receive another 10-20% if all the tea on Marsh farm is sold.
