Tea Plantations in Kerala State

Untamed Jungle

The landscape in the Western Ghats of Kerala State is unspeakably beautiful. Not only is the natural landscape of tightly concentrated rolling hills and ridges, thick jugle and steep scarps impressive, but the agriculturally altered tea-scape is breath-taking. Tea is planted in row after row, quilting the hills with every shade of green and smoothing the terrain so that it appears upholstered. Right in the acres and acres of tea are planted shade trees, arranged sparsely but regularly, some of which are orange trees, others used eventually for fire wood or furniture-making. Tea extends up the slopes to very steep terrain, anywhere there is some soil, and small paths and dirt access roads wind throughout. It gives the effect of an extremely manicured garden. Dotted at intervals in the vast tea-scape are small communities, villages with brightly-painted rows of simple dwellings, churches and temples. It appears idyllic. The reality is somewhat different for those who live here.



Tea in the Western Ghats

Tea was introduced to the hill country in Kerala in the 1840s and 1850s by several British planters who saw a potential use for the lands inland from the Kerala coastline. The sparce local population was used for guides and trackers and support personnel for the early forays into the jungle covered mountains. Initially the tiger, elephant, deer, wild goat, wild pig and bird hunting were the main draws to this area.

Rolling tea scape

By 1850 several very large tracts of land were leased to several planters who started experimenting with tea and other crops. Large labor forces were needed to clear the land and tend the crops so workers were imported from Tamil Nadu, a neighboring state with a larger population. Everything had to be brought into and built in these mostly unmapped areas. Large tracts of land were cut and cleared from the jungle. Roads were constructed. Housing, factories, schools, churches, clinics, and stores were built. By the 1900s tea was king and cardamom, ginger, coffee, clove, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, tumeric, pepper, curry, and allspice were planted on the forest floor and in places tea did not prosper. Large natural eucalyptus stands were supplemented with additional plantings to supply the

firewood needed for the tea factories and growing population.



In the expansive fields the tea plants seem to flow throughout the valley and cover the whole landscape almost to the top of the surrounding mountain ridges. Only the largest rock bolders and trees remaining in the drainages have escaped the flow of the tea plants. Each individual tea plant stands about 3-4 feet high and has been prunned throughout its life like a bonsai tree. Some plants are 90 years old and still producing a healthy crop of new leaves that are picked every 10 days during the growing season. Some areas are planted with tiny new tea plants, the old ones having been removed once their production finally dwindles. Every scrap of wood is used for firewood for homes or for the tea factories.

'Bonsai' looking tea plants

Cardemom plot under the forest canopy

There are established major and minor ‘picker’ paths criss-crossing each field giving it a mozaic look. As a field is being picked it changes color from the bright light green of new leaves to the dark green of the old leaves.

Tea Factory and School complex

To stabilize the mostly imported workforce, jobs were provided for both the husbands and wives in a family. The men worked in the factory and in the fields planting and cultivating the crops. The women worked as tea pickers. Housing with running water was provided by the plantation owners (electricity was added later). Schools through elementary level were also provided onsite, often located adjacent to the tea factory. Churches and temples were constructed for the Catholic and Hindu followers.

Sometime during the 1920s, 30s, and 40s strong workers unions both on the plantations and in the costal cities gained strength and in 1954 Kerala elected it’s first Communist Party controlled state government. Today many things are price controled not only in Kerala but country wide, and Kerala is the only state with a 100% literacy rate. The health care system is universal and is a model for other areas in the country.



Tea worker's village



Presently the men working on a plantation earn around 200 rupees a day and the women 130 rupees a day. This is adequate for a household, except that it is seasonal. Almost everyone does something else besides working for the plantation. This varies from raising cows, goats, chickens or produce to driving a rickshaw or taxi to moving to a city and sending most of your wages back to your village. (Refer back to Dec 11: Dharavi Slum post for life in the slum) But, for those who manage to live and work locally, the quality of life seems so much better than in the city slums and streets: roomier housing, more sense of community, cleaner environment, fresher air.

Village Hindu Temple



Tea pickers in field



Picker's lunch sacks



Weighing picked tea bags




Carrying firewood to the village




One of the largest corporations in India, Tata, controls many large tea plantations, auto and truck manufacturing, textile factories, real estate development, AND is the largest philanthropic donor year after year. Only 1 Tata heir is still alive and the various businesses have been set up as foundations to benefit Indians. Schools, water projects, environmental initiatives, differentially abled training centers, medical clinics and more are being sponsored by the Tata Foundations. Although like most corporations, Tata has established its huge wealth on the backs of poor, uneducated and powerless labourers, the Tata name is held in high regard by everyone we have talked to. An interesting twist to the ‘robber barons’ story.

Our 2 boy guides with their sister, a friend, and older brother.

One of the striking things about almost every person we meet is their engaging inquisitiveness about us and their ready smiles. Several local people we have meet at the resort and on our walks through the villages have asked us how we like the surrounding land and replied to our comments with: “This land is God’s gift to us.”. Even though they are very poor in terms of capital and possessions, they are well educated, speak and read several languages, have strong family bonds and ties to their surroundings, and are appreciative of the natural beauty and bounties of the land.

God's gift to us......

[Disclaimer: Since we have only seen tea plantations in Kerala which has also been controled by the Communist Party since 1954, we cannot separate these two influences in our comments about tea plantations.]