Social Conditions

This post is part of a two part post on Social and Environmental conditions.
Within the scope of the commodity chain, there must be some emphasis placed on the impacts (both positive and negative) that comes from the manufacture of this product, on both the welfare of the environment in which the teas are grown as well as the multiple stakeholders who are associated with the tea (consumers, employees, owners and those who live in proximity to these estates).

Unilever Kenya Ltd.

A case study was analyzed on the signature tea estate run by the UTK, which is situated in Kericho, Kenya. This estate encompasses more than 11 000 hectares and produce approximately 20 000 tonnes of tea annually. A mandate of this company has been to achieve complete social, environmental and economic sustainability through a step by step approach.

Socially, UTK has been in operation for over 80 years, and provides employment for over 17 000 jobs, which possibly means that it is the largest single employer in Kenya's private sector. The company employs various measures to aid in the state of its employees. This includes the minimal use of fertilizer, and absolutely no use of pesticides which could have had detrimental health effects. UTK also runs a training program for employees which is aimed at reducing or preventing the risk of accidents and occupational disease. This is reinforced by the application to the Rainforest Alliance Certification.In terms of further employment, UTK offers contracts to over 300 contractors and 250 suppliers within the community, which is aimed to alleviate poverty in rural communities surrounding the tea gardens.

UTK recognizes the need to interact positively with surrounding communities, and contributes to the cost of local infrastructure by the provision of buildings for 39 nurseries, 19 primary schools and 2 secondary schools. It runs a hospital, medical centers and 31 dispensaries. UTK also donates native trees for planting.