Tea Garden Details

Our Tea Garden organized Nepal’s first farmer cooperatives to benefit over 2500 people in the remote Himalayas, primarily ethnic minorities. After 8 years, nearly 800,000 tea plants have been successfully cultivated and matured. Farmers are now moving towards their first large-scale harvest.

Krishna Gurung has been selling his tea locally at a good profit.

The Tea Garden stands to increase household income more than 5 times current earnings and to make a significant impact in poverty alleviation. It has the potential to be self-sustaining in a few more years and to act as a model for similar programs. Eco-tourism will be incorporated as additional revenue generation for the region and to help sustain the people, culture, and land for the future.

Our current focus is to construct a farmer-owned processing center and bring the tea to market.

Ratna serves up green tea that he learned to grow and process through our program.

Background

Farmers in this eastern region of Nepal generally earn less than $200 per year and own marginal land that is unsuitable for most crops. They generally engage in slash-and-burn cultivation of millet, maize, and/or potato once every 4 years per plot. Apart from this difficult livelihood, alternative employment opportunities are portering heavy loads or temporary manual labor.

Project

350 families, organized into 19 collectives.
800,000 tea plants on 44 hectares of land.
Land has increased 20x in value over 8 years due to tea.
Farmer income can increase TBD over the next 5 years.
Fair & Organic
Farmers are ethnic minorities and “untouchable” castes
Tea sold on local market. Long-term goal is to export.
High altitude orthodox tea. Black tea now; green later.
Preparing to invest: processing center for whole region.

Since the beginning, our NGO has approached development by eschewing traditional models and instead combining common-sense pragmatism with first-hand knowledge of the region to achieve success. They have an excellent reputation with local villagers, government offices, and international donors, and have designed a uniquely effective Poor-Nonpoor Partnership (PNP) model for development.

Vision

Sustainable Development. Generate sustainable long-term income for poor farmers and significantly raise standards of living. Utilize land that is unsuitable for subsistence farming. Reduce slash-and-burn practices. Attract youth to remain in village areas through desirable employment and attractive earning potential. Facilitate Poor-Nonpoor Partnerships that aid in social harmony and the peace process.

Fair & Organic. We are Nepal’s first organized farmer-owned tea cooperatives. No pesticides or fertilizers have ever been used on the land—and this produces a smooth, non-astringent tea.

Socially and Environmentally Conscious. Benefit ethnic minorities and poorest social strata. New processing plant will be the first model of sustainable architecture for tea production in Nepal and is being designed by a team in San Francisco. Community-based tourism is being initiated in partnership with Global Exchange including Nepal’s first Fair Tea Tour.