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SEEDS OF SPECIALTY continued from page 43 Irrigation is still a scarce luxury, leaving the Malawi crop rain-reliant. Recent years have seen little change in tea-growing areas; constant fluctuations in crop yield are directly related to rainfall. The slow introduction of irrigation systems and replanting with modern high-yielding cultivars promise to move the region gradually toward its full potential output, while improvements in transport and the mechanization of factories help to streamline and stabilize production. Today's Malawi is a tough environment for any industry to survive: poor, uneducated and rife with all the complications of corruption and inefficiency that come WORKERS: Like other tea estates, Satemwa supplements wages with essentials such as food, water with economic depression. The and housing. logistics of labor-intensive cultivation in an increasingly competi- of large-scale tea manufacturing. Naturally, in an industry with tive world market are a permanent challenge, and many companies such slim profit margins—and in a country where corruption is survive by cultivating secondary crops such as tobacco, coffee and common—there are shortfalls in compliance to the published macadamia nuts. Many of the small private enterprises founded guidelines that lead to cases of negligence or abuse. The power by the original planters have collapsed or sold out, unable to com- structure is based on the old colonial model, with ownership in pete with the econo- the hands of a few. In a country with struggling social infrastrucmies of scale of the ture, however, there remain benefits to the estate system. larger tea estates. For several decades, Malawi has made concerted efforts to proWith most of mote land reform and smallholder tea farming, and at least 16 Malawi's tea grown percent of tea acres are now managed this way. The smallholder in an estate context, concept returns the land to the population, giving farmers full these entities typi- control and ownership. In recent decades, most estates have cally supplement handed over a percentage of their fields to "smallholder" farmminimal wages with ers. The smallholders are members of associations that are set essentials such as up to support, guide, organize and represent them. Their green water, food, hous- leaf, once plucked, is sold by the kilo either to estates or shared ing, clinics and edu- factories. The transition toward a situation of empowerment and cation for workers self-management—and the possibility of restructuring communiand their families. In ties into groups of rural units—is both compelling and complex. the absence of state- Smallholder Malawian tea is currently exported to more than 30 funded facilities, countries around the world. the medical clinics and schools of CULTIVATING SPECIALTY the estates are also used by nearby comWhile Satemwa is an estate, it's a forward-thinking one. Under munities. Creation Alexander's leadership, the garden carries several forms of fairof an estate com- trade certification and boasts many examples of solid social munity ensures the responsibility. Throughout Satemwa Estate, Alexander and his enormous supply of father have instigated large-scale indigenous reforestation and hands necessary to habitat-preservation projects. run the very laborWith an eye on the rapidly expanding market for speciality teas, intensive operation Alexander now has around 60 experimental cultivars in various continued on page 46 44 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com