COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Various tea producing countries were celebrating a tea day of their own, some classified as Black Tea Day and some categorized as Green Tea Day depending on the importance to each industry. The day was different from country to country. Sri Lanka and India used to celebrate 10th of December.
However with the initiative of China who is making huge strides in the World Tea Industry, United Nations General Assembly declared 21st of May as the International Tea Day. The Food & Agricultural Organisation Inter Governmental Group (FAO/IGG) supported this new idea of China to consolidate the date. The year 2020, was to be the first occasion to celebrate the International Tea Day.
Due to the Corona Virus pandemic attacking the entire world, the event did not consist of outside celebrations or even indoor programs due to the necessity for social distancing and staying safely indoors as much as possible.
Thus, it goes without saying that all commemorations needed to be through Social and Digital Media creating a token ceremonial platform in the tea producing and tea consuming countries the world over.
The reason for celebrating the International Tea Day and creating a popular platform is multi-fold as explained below:
(1) The revenue generation from tea industry in most of the producer nations is significant and rather prominent.
(2) Due to its labour intensive nature, a large working population is directly dependent on the tea industry of many countries. Therefore, the social impact is tremendous.
(3) Even the affiliated supporting industries such as banking, shipping, printing, packaging, courier service, insurance etc. relies heavily on the tea industry of many manufacturing nations.
(4) In large tea producing and exporting countries, the success and failure of the industry has a major bearing on the ruling Government and could even change an Election decision.
In view of the foregoing, it is inevitable that a tribute has to be paid to a country’s tea industry, which is a vital sector for the progress of its economy. The involved people need to be recognized; the supply chain players in the value addition cycle from the farmers to pluckers and right up to the brand marketeer given due cognition. So, this is a fascinating story where all the stakeholders in the tea industry could bravely “walk the talk “.
In such a background, the Sri Lanka tea industry wishes to recognize few vital characters and crucial segmentation to pay tribute for the invaluable service and enormous sacrifices made to raise the popularity and perceived quality parameters to stardom:
- The sweat of the toiling workers is our Green Gold which ultimately serves the connoisseur to his or her satisfaction.
- The tea stains on the fingers of the pluckers tell an unknown story which is unlimited in value. This day is a tribute to these angels.
- A great story on uplifting women’s empowerment from birth to death
- Reliability, Consistency and Sustainability is the forte of the Sri Lanka Tea Industry now boasting of a 153 years heritage. These unique pillars have been the backbone of the island nation’s economy for many years.
The Sri Lanka tea fraternity salutes the brave and courageous workforce in the tea industry who is continuing to produce the golden brew to the satisfaction of tea connoisseurs globally despite the COVID 19 pandemic lockdown by retaining the required social distancing, sanitation precautions and protection thru the wearing of face masks and sometimes, hand gloves.
