MINDFUL CONSUMERISM

Significance of the International Tea Day

International Tea Day is observed annually on May 21, according to the United Nations. The concerning resolution was adopted on December 21, 2019, and calls on the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to lead the observance of the Day.

The International Tea Day aims to raise awareness of the long history and the deep cultural and economic significance of tea around the world. The goal of the day is to promote and foster collective actions to implement activities in favor of the sustainable production and consumption of tea and raise awareness of its importance in fighting hunger and poverty.
Citation of: International Tea Day Wikipedia

Learn More >> https://www.un.org/en/observances/tea-day

The new circumstances of the world kept us from outdoor activities this year. We could only relay email messages to our subscribers and friends in order to promote International Tea Day. We hope that our little effort did make a point and the messages were received correctly about Tea Day awareness. We hope to observe the next International Tea Day peacefully with a lot more activities.

The newly announced noble idea of International Tea Day for us is a celebration and also a #Cause. The celebration of centuries-old tea cultures over the world must be observed with great enthusiasm. Beneath the culture also lies issues and complications. Like any poor farmers’ story, there is a whole lot of big segments in tea farming. There are many issues that need to be addressed, which actually are already addressed but without substantial outcome. In the context of Nepal, the issues are concerning when it comes to specialty tea small farmers who in reality have no sincere helping hands to share the burden of their only livelihood. The middlemen market exploitation hits the “land-locked nation” every now and then while we advocate a sustainable economy. The dream of sustainable production remains on a distant horizon for the small tea farmers especially from countries like Nepal where access to international markets extremely depends on the border policies of the two neighboring nations, China, and more importantly India. On the other hand, these small farmers do not have the production capacity to generate adequate funds in order to promote their teas independently by the means of marketing, even in the best times of their economy. Their root marketing platform Nepal Tea’s identity is not known yet on the world market in a proper sense to represent these small farmers. How does it feel to be a farmer of a landlocked nation? Only Nepali can tell.

Besides the economy, Nepali society is in good spirits. On a positive note, it is safe to say that Nepal does not have a record unlike in other critical parts of the tea world where pressing issues lie with women, children, and slavery. Although it is recorded that more than 70% of the labor force involved in tea picking are women in Nepal, they are merely the small farmers working in their own or neighbor’s farms without being a subject of forced labor. It is another sensitive subject although it is not a subject of forced labor. Such a vast majority of the women population in the industry must be addressed respectfully with a sustainable approach in order to improve the quality of their lives.

There were many professions for us to choose from, and we chose Tea Business because we were born in it, we are the new generation soil representations of the tea farming regions that we promote; so it is for us to do. We hope, all of us, from the tea-growing community to the tea-drinking community, little by little, together we can try and be a part of this change.