Growing Tea in Mufindi Highlands

We can see Unilever’s Mufindi tea plantation from our back door.  It is a pleasant three-mile walk to the plantation for an picnic on a warm day.  Tea is an important crop for Mufindi Highlands.  Unilever and Chai Bora are two important companies producing tea in the region. The following information was copied directly from the Unilever website:

“Unilever’s tea estates in Mufindi were established in the 1940’s as the Tanganyika Tea Company, which then became Brooke Bond in the 70’s and finally in 1984 they were acquired by Unilever. The tea produced in Mufindi is exported to Unilever tea blending factories around the world and used in brands such as the UK’s market leading PG Tips, and the world’s biggest tea brand, Lipton Yellow Label.”

“The Unilever Tanzania Tea estate in Mufindi currently produces around 10,000 tonnes of tea per annum, directly employing 6,000 people and supporting 30,000 dependants. The target of this partnership is to at least double this through investment in the estate and in smallholder production of 6,000 hectares and efforts to improve the quality of tea and efficiency of the supply chain.”

Unilever tea plantations are bright green in the background, as they are irrigated year round.  Windbreaks divide the plantation into blocks.

Bright green fields are tea.  Some are owned by independent producers who sell to Unilever of Chai Bora.

This is the large Unilever tea plantation where the photos were taken.

Final Product