Updates on past posts

INDIA:
Back in October I wrote about the closure of 16 tea estates in Jalpaiguria, India (West Bengal.) The management had abandoned these tea plantations leaving the workers without pay, food, and health care. Because of the remoteness of the outposts, people had few to no options. Sadly in searching for updates I saw a story about another set of managers of a tea estate in Jalpaiguria abandoning their workers. Click here to read more. I did see that workers at the abandoned Mujnai Tea Estate have begun to do off-season maintenance of the plants on their estate in order to preserve next year's harvest. If the managers do not return, the workers will plan on selling the leaves on their own. The full story is here. Finally, the Special Purpose Tea Fund (created under India's Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs) announced this month that it will be providing loans and subsidies to a number of gardens in the region to revive plantations and the government is advertising for new ownership for the abandoned estates.

BANGLADESH: In November, Cyclone Sidr struck Bangladesh. At the time of my post it was believed that 2,300 had perished and 20,000 homes had been damaged. A story on Relief Web posted today states that in all more than 3,000 people died and millions were made homeless. Cyclone shelters saved many lives during this storm. As such, the government has now committed to building 2000 more shelters. Bangladesh Red Crescent Society continues to have teams actively distributing blankets and food aid and to assist with health and sanitation issues. Basic food supplies such as rice have gone up in price by 25 - 30% so aid, such as the distribution of seeds, continues to be critical. Saplings are also being distributed to help provide food, timber, and to provide shielding in future storms.

KENYA: The recent presidential election in Kenya has led to political unrest, rioting, and widespread violence and destruction. 20,000 tea workers (about 1/3 of all Kenyan tea workers) were rushed off the tea estates in order to save them from attacks after a number of workers were murdered by insurgents. The current drought conditions have reduced the need for workers on the ground but if workers aren't able to return in March when the rains come the crops will suffer and prices will skyrocket. Most of the facility damage, however, was to housing and storage facilities not to leaf processing facilities so many of the estates are back up and running. See this story from Reuters for more information.

That's all I have for now. Thanks for staying interested in the stories that significantly affect those individuals who grow the tea that we drink every day.

Taken from http://teapages.blogspot.com/