SMALLHOLDER TEA

closed

The Smallholder Tea Consolidation Project will, over a five-year period, consolidate ongoing TTA operations and provide additional processing facilities. It will aim to (i) strengthen TTA's capacity to handle green leaf produced by smallholder tea plantings including those established under the Smallholder Tea Development Project; (ii) maximize the production benefits of smallholders in those areas where an alternative to tea planting is not available; (iii) strengthen TTA's financial viability; and (iv) increase Government's export earnings from the tea industry. Specifically, the project will finance construction of one new factory; extending and reequipping of five factories; transport facilities; spare parts; workshop tools; establishment of fuelwood plantations; planting of 200 ha and infilling of the equivalent of 630 ha of tea; construction and maintenance of 176 km of tea roads; and incremental staff and technical assistance for TTA. The major risk of the project is institutional deficiencies; this risk has been minimized through the provision of technical assistance in the key positions of factory operations. The forecasts of world tea prices have been conservatively projected based on key producing countries' abilities for expansion of tea production.