This Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) examines the tea supply chains of M&S and Waitrose in Kenya, focusing on the operations of smallholder farmers who supply Fairtrade-certified tea through the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA).
The assessment was conducted against the backdrop of significant challenges facing Kenya’s tea sector, including economic pressures from rising production costs and falling global prices, ongoing implementation of the Tea Act 2020, and heightened human rights risks exacerbated by climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report provides in-depth analysis of human rights issues across approximately 80,000 smallholder tea farmers who form part of the retailers’ supply chains, offering recommendations for strengthening due diligence processes in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
