By Danielle Lafond, Quality Control Technician
On the steep hillsides of Mineral Springs, a member the Sanjukta Vikas Cooperative prepares a meal over a fire. Vegetables and greens bubble away in a cast iron pot and tendrils of steam are sent skyward to mingle with the mist that hangs heavy in the air over Darjeeling. It looks delicious and smells tempting but my colleagues and I will never taste it. This meal is for the cows.
These cows are more than cows. By producing dung (for fertilizer), fermented urine (a natural pesticide), and milk (for, well, milk) the cows become partners in the endeavors of the people of Mineral Springs to live a biologically diverse, sustainable, and rewarding life. These cows deserve a nice hot meal.
As we walked through the family farms in Mineral Springs, we witnessed countless reiterations of the many types of partnerships necessary in making this cooperative so successful. Binita Rai, a mother of two, is a teacher at the school in the cooperative as well as a farmer herself. She also serves as a member of the Welfare Committee which plays a part in deciding where fair trade premiums will be allocated.
Mineral Springs has no processing factory. Tea that is plucked there is processed at another nearby garden whose manager regularly visits the community to engage the members in discussions on issues such as quality and logistics. The Sanjukta Vikas Cooperative also partners with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to educate its members on biodiversity, composting and other sustainable agricultural practices.
Closer to home, partnerships have the potential to create real movement around small farmer teas. Natural foods co-ops who are committed to educating consumers about small farmer issues concerning coffee and other crops have an opportunity to further connect consumers and producers within the realm of tea by partnering with Equal Exchange and promoting a small farmer model. By offering teas from the shining example of food sovereignty that is Sanjukta Vikas as well as from other, newer worker-owned tea gardens that are struggling to establish themselves, food co-ops give consumers the opportunity to partner with producers in the struggle for food security and ownership models.
These partnerships may seem like rhetorical, abstract lines that dimly connect one end of the world to the other, and I only have the following personal account to offer as argument: I have seen a tea farmer hold a box of finished product and watched the realization creep over his face that THIS is what you’re buying, what he’s selling, and what the face of his life is to you. He knows that you are connected directly to him. For me, it was a perfect example of the connections made from a hundred partnerships across a thousand miles all culminating in the hands of a farmer who laughed at the fact that we had put the tea in a bag (it’s all strainers and loose leaf in Darjeeling). That is very real – more real than I, in my four years of being a worker-owner at Equal Exchange, ever thought it was possible for anything to be.
Small Farmers. Big Change. 
This is beautiful. Great article Danielle. Keep up the good work!
I loved this well written article and great website. Very informative. Keep up the good work!
Hi Danielle,
Thank you for sharing this great story of connections and partnerships and the wisdom of the small farmer!
The Sanjukta Vikas Cooperative is, as you say, a wonderful example of the small farmer food cooperative model.
It certainly appears to reflect the some of the key tenants of ‘food sovereignty’: where small farmers (not large agribusiness) have the right to ownership and control of their land and how they use it; where the people who work the land have the right to practice the sustainable management of their natural resources; and where small farmers (rural women in particular) have the right to be active participants in direct and democratic decision-making on food and rural issues!
Danielle, thank you for sharing this most positive example of
successful farming and food production practices!
Cheers
Scott
Thanks so much for the update on Sanjukta Vikas Co-op. I visited the co-op ten years ago when I was a member of Equal Exchange. Equal Exchange was just developing it’s tea program and not accepting the status quo that for tea Fair Trade means buying from socially responsible plantations. At the time Sanjukta Vikas was primarily a milk co-op selling locally but members were working to increase their incomes and diversify into organic tea. There was some controversy in the community about this. Following organic standards meant that growers would have to change some of their current practices (particularly regarding other fruits and vegetables that they grew and sold locally) and it wasn’t clear to all members that growing organic tea was a viable business. Knowing that Equal Exchange was committed to purchasing from small producers organized into co-operatives helped them make their decision. What a great example of EE’s commitment to co-operatively owned businesses!
Kristin
Hi Danielle,
Wow, you are a great writer! I really enjoyed reading of your experiences and your pictures. I liked our trip to Chiapas so much, wish I could have gone on this trip too.
Keep it up,
Katie Krupp
You are really a talented writer. Congratulations!
Hope more people will understand that fairtrade needs to be Organic and Samall farming.
Interesting enough a official UN report on how to fight the hunger in the world comes to same conclusion las you: Go Organic with Small scale Producers!
Link:
http://www.agassessment.org
All the best for now,
Ben