HerbalEGram: Volume 4, Number 9, September 2007

Unilever, the parent company of Lipton and PG Tips, the UK’s best-selling tea, has joined with the Rainforest Alliance to certify its Unilever’s tea source in Kenya (Unilever Tea Kenya Limited) according to ecological, economic, and social considerations. This is the first time a European tea company has committed to this particular Rainforest Alliance certification scheme and the first time the Rainforest Alliance has certified tea farms.¹*

“Unilever is a progressive company that developed its own sustainable agriculture program several years ago,” said Edward Millard, senior manager for sustainable landscapes at the Rainforest Alliance. “The company is also a member of the Ethical Tea Partnership, which is an industry initiative to ensure decent practices on tea estates.”

Certification involves implementation of standards in 10 areas: management system, ecosystem conservation, wildlife protection, water conservation, working conditions, occupational health, community relations, integrated crop management, soil conservation, and integrated waste management. Meeting these standards protects the environment through means such as reducing pesticide use, preventing soil erosion, and protecting wildlife and waterways.² Certification also assures decent wages, education for farm children, and healthcare for workers as well as connects growers to new markets, often enabling them to receive a premium price. Unilever expects that farmers will receive prices that are 10 to 15 percent higher than current average prices paid at auction. The company estimates that farmers will receive $2.69 million US dollars more for their tea by 2010 and $6.71 million more by 2015.

If a farm fits the criteria, it is awarded the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal. Products including coffee, chocolate and bananas that carry this seal indicate to consumers that they  came from a farm that use sustainable practices, protecting the environment and supporting local communities.

“[T]his is a win-win,” said Unilever CEO Patrick Cescau at a speech to MBA students at INSEAD (INStitut Européen d'ADministration des affaires/ European Graduate Institute of Business Administration) in Fontainebleau, France.³ “Our consumers will have the reassurance that the tea they enjoy is both sustainably grown and traded fairly. Subsistence farmers will get a better price. Tea pluckers will be better off. The environment will be better protected. And we expect to sell more tea.”

Unilever began with the certification of its farm in Kericho, Kenya and soon aims to have farms in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Indonesia, Argentina, and Sri Lanka up to these standards as well.¹ Currently, the Rainforest Alliance has certified over 14,000 farms that produce coffee, bananas, cocoa, citrus, ferns and flowers, pineapple and now tea at 300,000 hectares of land in 15 countries, according to Ms. Ruethling (email August, 21, 2007). Certified farms are also subject to annual audits to assure their continued compliance to the standard.

“I have no doubt this decision will transform the global tea industry, which has been suffering for many years from oversupply and underproduction,” Cescau said in a recent press release.¹ “It will not be achieved overnight, but we are committed to doing it because we believe it’s the right thing to do for the people who drink our tea, the people along the entire length of our supply chain, and for our business.”

Lipton’s Single Estate Kericho Blend is currently available for the catering market in the UK, and Unilever hopes to have all Lipton tea bags sold globally certified by 2015.²

—Kelly E. Saxton

* Editor’s note: An ABC reviewer of this article has pointed out that although Unilever’s press release states that this is the first time that a major tea company has committed to such a level of certification, there are other tea brands in the market with comparable levels of certifications from other certifying bodies. For example, some American tea companies are multi-certified with ecological (USDA NOP organic), religious (Halal and/or Kosher), and social (Fair Trade Certified™) certifications for their tea products.

Further, the ABC reviewer noted that Rainforest Alliance certification is an alternative competing certification scheme with Fair Trade and Organic certifications, respectively. Rainforest Alliance states that its standards actually go beyond the requirements of organic certification and are an alternative to fair trade.⁴ However, Rainforest Alliance Certification does not require “organic certification”—a process requiring a recognized third-party review and approval—in order to receive an ecological certification. Instead, for Rainforest Alliance’s ecological certification a farm can follow an integrated pest management (IPM) model, which allows for some limited, strictly controlled use of agrochemicals, which would disqualify that farm from organic certification.

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