TEH nDESO CONNECTS
Finding New Opportunities with Indonesia's Small-scale Tea Growers
Indonesia's small-scale tea farmers face ongoing challenges due to climate change and competition. Fortunately, a recent initiative, Teh nDeso, is promoting sustainable practices and has helped small farmers to connect directly with consumers. The results have been impressive. With creative branding, QR codes with informative videos, and partnerships with local tea stalls and cafes, sales have risen from 5-10 tonnes to over 150 tonnes per year, and average incomes have increased by 15-25 percent.
Indonesia may be one of the world’s largest tea-producing countries, but there has been a steady decline in tea production over the past two decades – from 162,587 tonnes of tea in 2000 to 137,837 tonnes in 2022.
The plummeting production can be attributed to two major causes:
- Climate change and its unpredictable rainfall and more severe droughts.
- Widespread utilization of tea plantations for other commodities and purposes. As a result, the area occupied by government-owned and private tea estates has shrunk by more than 25,000 hectares over the last 20 years.
As a result, Indonesia’s smallholders and small-scale tea farmers have increasingly gained prominence. These small estates currently account for 49.3 percent of the area under cultivation and produce a total of 47,732 tonnes of tea. Despite their importance, these farmers continue to be vulnerable to the recent shifts in climate, while a long supply chain in the tea sector limits their involvement in sustainability initiatives. Added to this, low incomes often force farmers to reduce their spending on farm maintenance costs.
To address these issues, small farmers have formed cooperatives to collectively produce and sell their own tea. However, these cooperatives often compete with products that already exist, as well as imported products. It’s a tough challenge, especially given the smallholders’ limited capacities for upskilling, networking and financing.
It is here that the Paguyuban Tani Lestari, an umbrella organization of more than 40,000 Indonesian tea smallholders in 14 districts, is making a difference. With assistance from Business Watch Indonesia (BWI) and Solidaridad, Paguyuban Tani Lestari created their own brand, Teh nDeso.
After realizing that better agricultural practices and sales of tea leaves are insufficient for strengthening their position in the supply chain, the organization introduced an innovative approach to support farmers with market access, fair compensation and environmentally sustainable practices under the Market Development for Smallholder Tea Product project, which is part of Solidaridad’s Power of Voice programme.
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The Power of Voice
The project’s approach has three critical components: appropriate and thoughtful branding, the introduction of a QR code system, and connections with tea stalls in local markets, and in cafes and restaurants in cities.
The name, Teh nDeso, is inspired by the rural areas where tea is cultivated, with the word ‘deso’ meaning ‘village’ in the local language. It aims to foster pride and a sense of belonging among 10,000 sustainable small tea farmers in seven districts and three cities. Teh nDeso has also incorporated the Indonesian flag in its packaging to identify itself as a national brand producing homegrown tea.
The lack of a connection between consumers and producers often leads to declining brand trust. To counter this, Teh nDeso products come with a QR code that connects the user to a webpage detailing the tea’s origin, a profile of Teh nDeso farmers (in the form of short movies), cultivation practices, plus the environmental benefits of supporting local and sustainable agriculture.
The aim is to amplify smallholder voices and enhance the visibility and marketability of tea produced by them. A short feature, Warisan, shines a light on the lives of the tea farmers who are rising above challenges – it has received 79,000 views so far. Another such film, Lunas, shows how a marketing scheme under the project is supporting women in improving their income and helping them pay off their debts – originally in Bahasa, and now featuring English subtitles, the video has garnered 143,000 views to date. The production and development of the QR code system involved the collaboration between technology providers, local tea cooperatives, and marketing experts. The campaign movies were produced in association with Tanilink, an agricultural startup, with additional help from BWI.
To expand marketing space and overcome challenges posed by selective consumer behavior, a strategy that helps farmers directly sell and market their produce is essential to establish shorter supply chains. Under the Teh nDeso initiative, a marketing scheme has been developed to enable 900 rural women and smallholders (called micropreneurs) to sell tea products to households and local shops.
Tea stalls selling Teh nDeso products have been built and set up to directly reach consumers in major cities with 100 such stalls are now located in Bandung, Solo and Yogyakarta. To further amplify this reach, the project is working with the Café and Restaurant Association (AKAR) in Bandung and other such outlets and spaces in Solo and Yogyakarta.
Meeting customers where they are
The development of these Teh nDeso-exclusive tea stalls and the initiative’s proactive effort to reach out to more such shops and stalls in other cities has significantly increased demand for Teh nDeso products. Estimates suggest a per-stall demand of 120 kg of tea products per month. The marketing strategies have resulted in a major turnaround in smallholders’ sales – from a meagre 5–10 tonnes every year to above 150 tonnes per year now. The net result is that the average income of the farmers have risen by 15 to 25 percent.
“People now have a better perception, and I am no longer seen as a mere farm worker. By joining the Teh nDeso initiative as a micropreneur, I can now afford and ensure a decent education for my children.”
“Teh nDeso empowers women like us to distribute products in restaurants, shops, and food stalls. The proceeds from the sales are sufficient to buy side-dishes and kitchen ingredients.”
Teh nDeso’s campaigns have successfully brought issues of sustainability (in Indonesia’s tea sector) and self-sustenance (among tea smallholders) to the forefront of public discussion. At the same time, the programme has helped women take up leadership positions and participate in entrepreneurial activities.
Currently, the initiative aims to build upon its potential to transform traditional supply chains, promote local brands and contribute to the global sustainability agenda as it works to bridge the gap between smallholders and consumers. In the years ahead, the project plans to expand its marketing efforts by networking with food and beverage associations in multiple cities and districts.
Read more about Solidaridad's work with tea producers here.
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