Supporting Farmers Is Key to Tea’s Sustainable Future

A tea picker in the Bearwell tea estate of Sri Lanka.

The tea in your cup this morning began its journey in someone else’s hands, hands whose work many of us rarely think about. More often than not, those hands belonged to a smallholder farmer tending a small plot of land and carefully plucking leaves beneath long mornings of mist and rain.

Two leaves and a bud. Two leaves and a bud. Repeated thousands of times. Smallholder farmers account for around 60 percent of the global tea supply. The industry built on their labour is worth about US$19.5 billion annually and supports the economies of some of the world’s poorest countries. Yet the conditions that sustain this work, ecological, economic, and climatic, are increasingly under pressure.

Tea is the world’s most widely consumed drink after water. Global production reached 7.3 million tonnes last year, while per capita consumption continues to grow steadily. On the surface, the sector appears strong.

However, the millions of smallholder farming families driving that growth in countries such as China, India, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Malawi, and Rwanda require stronger support if the sector’s progress is to continue.

Tea production is deeply tied to rural livelihoods and economic dependence. Kenya remains the world’s largest tea exporter, while Sri Lanka, Uganda, Malawi, and Rwanda rank among the top global producers. In these countries, tea export revenues help finance food imports and sustain local economies. The industry continues to provide employment and income for millions of people.

Yet the financial reality for producers is more fragile than headline figures suggest. International tea prices, adjusted for inflation, have steadily declined over the past four decades. Although the sector’s overall value has expanded, the purchasing power of many producers has stagnated.

Studies by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) show that when farmgate prices fall, farming households often reduce spending on food, education, and healthcare.

Smallholder producers also face limited access to markets, inadequate agricultural support services, restricted access to credit and technology, and unequal distribution of value across supply chains.

As production costs rise and market price increases are unevenly transmitted, many farming families struggle to generate enough income to reinvest in farm improvements, climate adaptation, and productivity measures.

Tea production and processing are also major sources of employment and income for women across East Africa and South Asia. Programmes that support women through training, market access, and financial resources often produce stronger outcomes for households and communities.

Tea cultivation depends on highly specific environmental conditions, including altitude, rainfall patterns, and temperatures that have evolved over centuries in tea-growing regions.

These conditions are becoming increasingly unpredictable. Irregular rainfall, fluctuating temperatures, and extreme weather events are already affecting both crop yields and tea quality.

For smallholder farmers without savings or insurance, a poor harvest is not simply a temporary setback. It directly affects household spending on food, healthcare, and education.

Larger producers often have greater capacity to respond through irrigation systems, financial reserves, and diversified operations. Smaller producers, however, frequently face increasing climate risks with limited resources to adapt.

Investment and policy support therefore need to reflect the realities of smallholder farming rather than assumptions based on larger commercial operations.

The issue extends beyond economics. Several tea-growing landscapes have been recognised as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems by FAO, reflecting generations of accumulated farming knowledge and close relationships between communities and the land.

More efficient, inclusive, and sustainable value chains, combined with greater local value addition and stronger participation of producers in markets, are essential to ensure that the benefits of growth reach both farming communities and the environments that support them.

The long-term future of tea will depend not only on rising consumption but also on ensuring that farmers have better access to finance, technology, markets, and climate adaptation support.

More balanced value chains, targeted investment in women, and stronger support at the farm level will play a crucial role in ensuring the industry's future remains economically and socially sustainable.