Archive for September 16, 2008

Tea-The Industry

September 16, 2008 · Filed under Tea Industry · Tagged , , ,

Photography: Salman Saeed

Tea is an important export item in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh ranks tenth among the ten largest tea-producing and exporting countries in the world. In the year 2000, the country’s tea production was 1.80% of the 2,939.91 million kg produced worldwide.

Most of the 163 tea estates in Bangladesh are located in the North-eastern region of Bangladesh-Maulvi Bazar, Hobiganj, Sylhet, Brahmanbaria districts. There are a few number of tea estates in Panchagar District and in Chittagong,a South-eastern district.

Owners of tea gardens include both foreign and local companies. While four Sterling companies own 27 estate, Bangladeshi companies and individuals own the rest of the tea gardens. The four foreign companies are James Finlay, Duncan Brothers, Deundi Tea Company and The New Sylhet Tea Estate.

All the 163 tea estates are managed by five different categories of management:

(i) Sterling companies

(ii) National Tea company

(iii) Bangladesh Tea Board

(iv) Bangladeshi Private Limited Companies

(v) Bangladeshi Proprietors

The estates are categorised into three according to their production capacities. They are:

  1. Category A: All the ‘A’ category estates that have the highest productivity belong to the British companies (fully or partially).
  2. Category B: The Bangladeshi government, Bangladeshi tea companies or Bangladeshi individuals own this category of estates.
  3. Category C: The family owned small and low productive estates belong to this category. Wages and working conditions are at their worst in the tea estates under this category.

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Origin of the Tea Workers

September 16, 2008 · Filed under Background of the tea workers · Tagged , ,

Photography: Salman Saeed

Most of the tea estates are located in the northeast region of Bangladesh. The first tea garden was established by the Duncan Brothers. Since then all the tea gardens have been established by clearing jungles. Those who did the jungle clearing were non-locals brought by Duncan from Assam, Bihar, Madras, Orissa and other places in India.

Back home they were told that they would arrive at a “lovely garden in the hill country where they would look after trees with leaves of pure gold which would fall if you (they) shook them” (Jones 1986:11).

After they settled in this unknown country they realised that the story of the golden leaves was a lie and it remains a mystery to them till date.

The tea worker with different ethnic identities are people who are less-talked-of and forgotten. They are not well aware of their origins. Their lives in Bangladesh are confined to the tea gardens and they do not interact much with people of other ethnic identities. They do not speak their language perfectly and most of them are illiterate.

As they are a socially excluded group, they are a very easy target for exploitation by the profiteers from the tea industry.

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