Lidl GB used Fairtrade Fortnight in early October to announce that it is the first British retailer to pay a living income price for tea from Kenya. Developed with the Fairtrade Foundation and WWF, the scheme covers a new single-origin Kenyan black tea in the supermarket's own-label range.
On top of the Fairtrade Minimum Price and Fairtrade Premium, growers receive an additional premium per kilo, worked out from the real cost of living in their area. The need is clear: according to figures cited in the announcement, only one in five Kenyan tea farmers earns enough to support a family. Lidl adds that all of its own-brand tea is now Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance certified.
Kenya ranks among the world's biggest black tea exporters, and farmer income is moving up the industry agenda — a reminder that the fair price behind a cup of tea increasingly matters to the people drinking it.
Source: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal