Nancy Wangira Munyi, 33, grew up in a tea farming family. She is married into one as well. Now 33, Nancy farms her own half-acre plot, part of the Rukuriri Factory in in Embu County, Mt.Kenya region. She was harvesting about 2,500 kilos a year – until the pandemic hit. ‘During this Covid period, we didn’t receive subsidised fertilisers from the factory, resulting in a reduction in tea harvest. My harvest might go down to 2,000 kilos this year,’ she says.
Covid is not the only challenge for Nancy. Like so many of the tea farmers in this report, she’s battling the impact of climate change. Farmers remain on the front line of the climate crisis, despite having contributed the least to cause it. Extreme weather makes Nancy’s crops more likely to fail and affects the quality of her tea. Her livelihood is under threat and the future is uncertain.
Thanks to partnerships with buyers like M&S, Fairtrade can keep offering holistic support to strengthen Factories – including a Minimum Price for their tea and the Fairtrade Premium, which funds projects to improve their business and communities.
The Factory invested some of the Fairtrade Premium in a cooling plant so milk can be stored while it’s waiting to be sold.
This has given women an extra income in addition to selling their tea.
They also built new buying centres, where farmers sell their green leaf to the Factory. ‘Before Fairtrade, we had few buying centres which would get crowded resulting in delays and long waiting hours,’ says Nancy. The new ones are bigger and closer to the farm which reduces travel time for farmers – something particularly positive for women. ‘The new buying centres are near our homes so we’re able to spend less time going there and go back home to take care of our young children. Children are not allowed to accompany us to buying centres,’ explains Nancy.
Nancy has a message for M&S and Fairtrade. ‘I would like to thank the buyers for their continued support and request them to buy our teas at better prices,’ she says. ‘We would not be where we are without Fairtrade.’
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