Over the past few months, one of Fertile Ground's partners, the small tea cooperative, has been working with Level Ground Trading to find a way to bring teas produced by growers in Assam to Canada's west coast. The first shipment of hand-processed teas from three family-owned gardens is expected to arrive on Vancouver Island sometime in October. Since 1997, Level Ground has been improving the lives of disadvantaged small-scale producers in developing countries through their innovative fair trade business based in Victoria, B.C.. Tea will be a new product line for the company. They currently market coffees grown in Columbia, Bolivia, Peru, Tanzania, Ethiopia and the Phillipines, and dried fruit and cane sugar produced in Columbia.  Fertile Ground's coordinator, Peggy Carswell, has been providing training and encouragement to small-scale producers in Assam since 1999. Pompy Ghosh, who works at a resource centre set up by Fertile Ground in Assam, is continuing to provide information and practical hands-on training to growers from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Working in partnership with Level Ground, the small tea cooperative will provide ongoing technical support to the growers to help them find ways to meet the growing demand for flavourful, hand-processed teas grown without chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Premiums provided by Level Ground will enable the growers to undertake fair trade initiatives that will benefit their workers and the local community. CommentsLeave a Reply |
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