The Malawian tea estate sector has continuously invested in production systems to move towards higher quality tea and to diversify estate’s activities. There are clear areas of progress with regard to sustainable procurement practices.

Key Achievements

  • USD 14.1 Million

    Invested by producers

    for productivity, quality, replanting, factories, irrigation, diversification Tea estate producing higher quality teas

  • All

    coalition buyers used the Sustainable Procurement Model

    All coalition buyers have reported - in their buyer assessments with Oxfam and IDH - making some use of the model

  • 66%

    more tea volume sourced

    Coalition buyers sourcing 66% more tea volume from Malawi since the start of the programme

  • 1st

    Innovative finance deal

    for long-term investments in irrigation and product quality

Timeline of Activities

Though the five years of the program, between 2016 and 2020, continuous investments by producers, halted in 2020 owing to COVID-19 developments and economic conditions.

  • 2017 - 2018

    Development of Sustainable Procurement Model, trial and evolution of the model, debates about methods of distributing buyer premiums to workers, providing guidance to buyers on price setting

  • 2018

    Market conditions and the tax environment forced a downward adjustment in the collective ambition to achieve a Living Wage by 2020

  • 2019

    Individual buyers use the Sustainable Procurement Model in their contracts with producers

  • 2019 - 2020

    Trilateral assessment of buyers’ sustainable procurement practices by Oxfam and IDH based on data submitted via ETP, July 2019 and July 2020, with variable results in terms of deliverable benefits for workers

Read next:
Pillar 2: A motivated workforce with better opportunities for women

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