Indian Tea Plantation to Lease Growing Land in Ethiopia

Kanan Devan Hills Plantations, an Indian tea company, is set to invest a fair bit of coin by leasing 10,000 hectares of land in the southwestern Oromiya District of Ethiopia, in order to grow tea in what is traditionally coffee country. The move is going to be a very expensive one for everyone involved, but the long-term payoffs for both KDHP and Ethiopia are being considered worth the risk.

The land is being leased directly from the Ethiopian government, who is understandably eager to diversify its cash crops–considering coffee alone represents between 60-70% of all exported goods from that country. In addition, leasing the land to grow tea is a wise interim move by a government who has resisted pressure to increase the amount of land devoted to coffee growing, in order to keep demand high and prices stable. This allows that arable land to turn a profit without potentially deflating the worth of the Ethiopian coffee brand.

The land, which is given on 90-year lease, will only command modest rent in order to encourage the project, and in return Indian tea workers will train Ethiopian laborers to work with the crop. Within 10 years, the land is expected to to produce 25 million kg of high quality teas.

This diversification has been an interesting trend–in recent years, specialty coffees have started to appear in India alongside its traditional teas, and they’re wonderful coffees, among the best I’ve ever had. Now tea will be grown in Ethiopia. I wonder if it will prove as remarkable?