There is a particular kind of quiet in the early mornings in Nitaldoba. The village sits in Baliadangi upazila, Thakurgaon, amidst vast agricultural plains in the north of Bangladesh. Here, among farms of corn and paddy, tea gardens have slowly come alive—and today, they define the economic contours of this region.
What’s more, the women of Nitaldoba have started to claim a fair share of significance in this journey.
Early in the morning, by seven, when the mist has not yet lifted, the women are already in the tea garden. They arrive in small groups and spread across the rows of low, trimmed tea bushes that stretch before them. With skilled, steady hands that have learned patience, they begin to pluck—not with scissors or machines, but by hand.
Each leaf is chosen deliberately, pinched at exactly the right point on the stalk, and pulled with just enough force to separate, without bruising. The youngest, most tender leaves that will become the finest tea are selected with a discernment that machines cannot replicate. And that, as it turns out, comes most naturally to these women.
By noon, they will have filled their baskets and returned home to cook, to tend to their children, and to care for their livestock. But for those four to five hours each morning, something significant happens among the rows in the gardens every day.
This is the story of how the women of Nitaldoba came together to revive the region’s tea economy.
Sowing the Seeds
“In this area, most families are poor and depend on agriculture,” says Faizul Islam, Chairman and Managing Director of Green Field Tea Industries Ltd. “We have seen that men alone cannot bear the entire burden, especially because women, who take care of the household and raise children, also depend on them.”
The idea of including the women of Nitaldoba in the daily operations of the tea sector arose when Faizul met Solidaridad staff in Panchagarh. “The question we explored was simple: what can we do to genuinely transform the community around us?” says Faizul. A brief excursion to China revealed to him that high-quality green tea could be grown at relatively low cost in the northern districts of Bangladesh. Faizul further decided that women from the communities living near Green Field’s tea estates would produce it. “We had to carefully analyze their potential and explore ideas,” he says.
It was that fateful conversation between the Solidaridad staff and Faizul that ultimately led to a partnership between Solidaridad and Green Field under the Pathways to Prosperity (P2P)–Tea Project in 2024. The project is supported by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In early 2025, the collaboration reached a significant milestone with the decision to form a women-led cooperative—the Alo Chaya Khudro Cha Utpadonmukhi Shomobay Shomitee Ltd.—in Nitaldoba.
A Cooperative with a Difference
What truly sets the cooperative apart is the fact that the women own and control the means of production. Not the factory. Not the organization.
This is a big deal in Nitaldoba, where women are often unable to earn the fruits of their (agricultural) labour. They may be the ones who are growing crops (such as paddy, corn, chili and onion) on their family’s land; yet, the income earned from agricultural activities invariably goes to the men. And, even then, it is simply not sufficient. 30-year-old Furti Rani, the cooperative’s general secretary, says, “I got married before 18 and soon had a son. My husband worked as a labourer on other people’s plots. We used to be really poor. [That is the reason] I started working [as a labourer] as well, but it was never enough.”
“These are women who used to struggle with poverty and were constantly on the lookout for earning options,” says Md. Atikuzzaman, Programme Manager for Tea and Associated Crops at Solidaridad Bangladesh. “That is why when we outlined our vision, the women themselves contacted us to get involved. They had been waiting for just such an opportunity.”
The women of Nitaldoba have been a suitable fit for this undertaking. Their patient, careful handling of tea leaves ensures that only the youngest, most tender leaves are plucked and sent for processing, thereby allowing them to earn good prices. “Because they follow instructions properly, the women have demonstrated significant capacity and eagerness to master the art of hand-plucking tea leaves,” says Faizul. The daily minimum target is 5 kg of hand-plucked leaves, but experienced pluckers can achieve double the target within their shifts.
A Collaborative Model
Solidaridad supports the cooperative with training on good plucking practices. It also purchased tea processing equipment for the group and placed it completely under the group’s ownership. Green Field processes and markets the tea, ensuring that the tea travels far beyond Thakurgaon. The company has signed an agreement with Shwapno, one of Bangladesh’s largest supermarket chains, to stock their teas (four of which are green and orthodox varieties) across 860 outlets nationwide. Encouragingly enough, their airport outlet in Dhaka sells out regularly.
“We are on the way to generate profit,” says Faizul, expressing cautious hope. “The production process is significantly simpler than black tea production. Because of that, we did not have to recruit anyone specifically for green tea production in the factory. Our existing workers do it in small shifts. Moreover, we did not have to invest in the machinery, as Solidaridad bought it and provided it to the cooperative. So, we are projecting a good profit by the end of this year.” A part of these profits will go back to the cooperative.
This is a value chain in which the women are not inputs for someone else’s profit, but real stakeholders with a genuine share in what is being built.
Staying Motivated
By uniting under the Alo Chaya cooperative, the women have strengthened their voices and improved their negotiating power. This matters immensely when something as critical as wages is concerned.
When the women decided they deserved a better wage, they did not approach the factory individually. They organized. “We placed the demand as a cooperative, in a systematic way,” says Furti. “We sat with Solidaridad, convinced them—and with their liaison, the cooperative reached out to Green Field.” The wage rose—from BDT 40 (0.28 euros) per kg of hand-plucked leaves to BDT 50 (0.35 euros).
“The more we work, the better leaves we provide, the more the factory profits,” says Furti. “Which means more income for us. And this is very motivating.”
“Working across two plucking rounds per month, a dedicated member can earn between BDT 6,000 –7,000 (41.97–48.96 euros) in a good month,” says Sabina Yasmin, another member of the collective.
It is through this collective action that the group’s members have, on average, increased their yearly savings by BDT 18,000 (125.90 euros). “I spent my savings to buy [my son] a leaf-cutting machine. Now, he cuts tea leaves in different tea gardens. He is earning good money with it and contributing to the family,” says 35-year-old Lovely Begum. “But the most significant change in our lives is [having] access to better and more food. Everyone in my family can now eat better food with the support of my income.”
Future-Proofing the Cooperative
It is little surprise then that the cooperative is seeking to expand its membership from 100 to 200 by the end of this year. Each member also deposits 100 taka monthly into the collective’s cooperative bank account to plan and finance activities in the future. And, with Green Field planning to share profits with the group by the end of 2026, the group has much to look forward to.
“It was tea production that opened the scope for wage-driven seasonal work for women in Thakurgaon and Panchagarh,” says Md. Shahid Uz Zaman, Founder and Executive Director of ESDO Eco-Social Development Organization (ESDO), another partner in the P2P–Tea project. “Now, these women are scripting a new history of the tea sector here.”
“The formation of this women-led cooperative is a landmark achievement for gender inclusivity, which is effectively positioning women within the formal tea supply chain,” says Selim Reza Hasan, Country Manager–Bangladesh, Solidaridad. “The strength of this co-created business model lies in the equitable distribution of shared benefits from the new green and orthodox tea brands, transforming women into owners of sustainable business ventures. Solidaridad is eager to scale this market-driven model—built on a powerful synergy between the private sector, civil society, and community institutions—to drive long-term economic empowerment for women and the marginalized groups.”
Back in the fields, Alefa Akter speaks of a sentiment shared by many in the Alo Chaya cooperative. “All we want is to become more solvent, raise our children properly, and live a better life. We are really happy that we have found hope for that,” she states. Her colleague, Panchali Rani, gently corrects her: “Not only hope, we have found a way.” The subtle shift in nuance speaks volumes of how far the cooperative itself has travelled: from hoping for circumstances to change, to creating their own path to a destination they have themselves determined.