About the Partnership

Tea production- a lucrative business in the North East Region of India, remains a high-risk commodity for Fairtrade owing to the threats posed by several critical factors concerning the welfare of workers. Concerns on the poor standard of living and working conditions of tea workers in North East India continues to receive various media speculation across the globe.

Therefore, with a grave need to address these issues and engage beyond certifications ‘Fairtrade North, East India Tea Strategy’ was launched in consultation between Fairtrade Germany, Fairtrade UK, Fairtrade International and Fairtrade Network of Asia and Pacific Producers. The Program aims to improve the living and working conditions of tea workers in Darjeeling and Assam and provide support to plantations in adopting measures for improving tea quality, marketability and climate change mitigation. The possible outcome would be to establish strong, resilient and secure tea planting communities in North East India.

The Project was made more inclusive by Fairtrade Germany and UK  reaching out to Fairtrade licensees (buyers) in their respective regions, to encourage them to play an influential role along the supply chain by engaging with the tea producers beyond commercial transactions. The first engagement was committed by a Fairtrade German licensee and in its collaborative funding effort with support from NAPP and Fairtrade Germany, 250.000 EUR in total were invested for implementing several projects in Assam and West Bengal by Chamong Tee Exports Pvt Ltd.