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Christian Aid: Reading the tea leaves
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Climate change and the British cuppa
Tea companies in the European Union seek climate targets to protect Kenya’s tea fields from a potentially devastating combination of heat and erratic rain.
In May, UK charity Christian Aid published 14-page report of troubling research on climate studies that forecast reductions of 25-40% of Kenyan tea yields by 2050. Kenya supplies half of the tea consumed in the UK or re-exported and ships direct millions of kilos to Germany and Poland, where blenders supply the continent.
The report, released in advance of the G7 gathering in June and the November COP26 climate summit, highlights the importance of industry and government programs to help farmers cope with temperature increases in equatorial Africa, estimated to rise to an average of 23.5oC.
Christian Aid’s climate policy director Dr. Kat Kramer called on the UK government to “ensure that countries on the front line of this crisis can adapt and respond to the impacts of climate change.” As countries begin announcing improved climate plans, “there is a unique opportunity to accelerate cuts in emissions and boost the finance needed to help countries adapt to the changing climate,” writes Kramer.
The report features the work of Sadeeka Layomi Jayasinghe and Lalit Kumar, researchers who predict that “climate change is going to slash optimal conditions for tea production in Kenya by 26.2% by 2050.” Tea grown in less favorable regions will experience 39% declines. Torrential rain and extreme temperature are the two biggest concerns. The combination encourages plagues of locusts and devastating floods. Temperatures will rise 2.5 oC to an average of 23.5 oC with spells hot enough to kill mature tea plants.
Lower quality leaf and less appealing taste will affect all growers. Kenyan farmers the most productive in the world, harvesting an average of 1,500 to 3,300 kilos per hectare of made tea per year. Smallholders harvest an average of 2,300 kilos per hectare.
Not Just Kenya
In a section assessing climate change in India, the authors cite a survey of tea producers in Assam describing the impact of climate change. Garden managers (88%) and smallholders (97%) agree that climate conditions are a "definite threat" to growing and producing tea. In China, the authors cited a Tufts University survey of Chinese tea growers that found the majority of farmers interviewed had observed: "shifts in the occurrence of seasons, the length of seasons, increase temperatures, and changes in rainfall."
In an article published by Food Navigator, spokespersons for Tetley, Unilever, Twining’s all responded favorably to the report, confirming challenges and explaining steps taken. Sebastian Michaelis, head of tea at Tata, told Food Navigator, “we strongly believe that tea communities need much more from the industry than just research, so in tandem, we are involved in a program to help tea farmers mitigate the impacts of climate change, training them in sustainable practices like soil management, rainwater harvesting and drip irrigation.”
The report included comments from farmers concerned that they have little power to change policy in developed countries responsible for climate change.
In Kenya, Kericho tea grower Richard Koskei, 72, writes that “For generations we have carefully cultivated our tea farms and we are proud that the tea that we grow here is the best in the world. But climate change poses a real threat to us. We cannot predict seasons anymore, temperatures are rising, rainfall is more erratic, more often accompanied by unusual hailstones and longer droughts which was not the case in the past.”
Researchers concluded that it would be very difficult for tea growers to move to new, higher altitude, previously uncultivated regions. While much can be accomplished at the farm level, the problem is global, not local. Tea is an example of how we are all connected, wrote one farmer. “We grow it here in Kenya and it’s enjoyed by people around the world. But if we are to carry on growing it we need those other, richer countries, to cut their emissions and to think about how we are affected as tea farmers.”