A simple tea leaf is emerging as a promising source of livelihood for rural women in Karbi Anglong, as environmental organisation Aaranyak organised a one-day practical training programme to help nine Karbi women transform locally grown tea leaves into higher-value handmade Green Tea and Orthodox Tea.
The initiative aims to create sustainable, home-based income opportunities for women while also preserving traditional tea-making knowledge.
Women from Chandrasing Rongpi, Barking Engti, Sem Engti and Hemai Lekthe villages participated in the training. Many of them are already involved in tea cultivation and homestead farming.
The programme focused on a simple but important question: how can rural communities earn more from resources they already produce?
Instead of selling freshly plucked tea leaves as raw produce at relatively low prices, the participants were taught how careful processing can turn the leaves into speciality teas with greater market value. The process requires comparatively low investment and can be carried out at the household level, making it particularly suitable for women dependent on subsistence farming and seasonal agricultural work.
Manai Terangpi, an experienced practitioner of Green Tea and Orthodox Tea from Chandrasing Rongpi village, served as the resource person for the training.
The programme began at a nearby tea farm, where the participants learned how to identify, select and properly pluck tea leaves suitable for processing. They then received practical demonstrations and hands-on training in preparing hand-rolled Green Tea through boiling, hand rolling and sun drying. This was followed by training in the preparation of Orthodox Tea.
For the participants, the programme was more than simply learning a new technique. It was an opportunity to add value to an existing skill and resource.
Rebeka Rongpipi of Chandrasing Rongpi village said the training had helped her learn new techniques for producing better-quality Green Tea and Orthodox Tea that could fetch better prices than raw tea leaves.
Similarly, Kusum Teronpi of Sem Engti village said she learned how details such as selecting the right leaves, proper plucking, rolling and drying could improve the quality and appearance of the final product and potentially increase its market value.
The training also highlighted the importance of maintaining quality standards to develop tea as a marketable product.
Moromi Nath of Aaranyak spoke about the demand for handmade Green Tea and Orthodox Tea and explained the quality standards required for procurement under PIRBI. She said the tea produced by the women would be procured and paid for according to its quality, with factors such as leaf size, rolling and proper drying taken into consideration.
She encouraged the women to begin with small quantities and practise regularly so that they could gradually improve the quality of their tea.
Larbeen Teronpi of Aaranyak introduced the participants to PIRBI, a community-based business and food-processing unit operating in the village. She also explained other possibilities for value addition using locally available products such as turmeric, ginger powder, tapioca flour and moringa powder.
Such processing, she said, could help rural families generate additional income by adding value to resources already available within their communities.
Beyond livelihood generation, the initiative also has an important cultural dimension. Traditional tea-making practices passed down through generations can gradually disappear as livelihood patterns and lifestyles change. By helping women practise, refine and potentially market these skills, the programme seeks to preserve tea-making as a living part of the community’s cultural heritage.
The initiative demonstrates how local resources, traditional knowledge and women’s skills can come together to create sustainable livelihood opportunities while strengthening communities’ connection with their land and cultural practices.
With continued skill development and suitable market linkages, handmade tea produced in Karbi Anglong could emerge as an authentic village-based speciality product, opening new avenues for local entrepreneurship and economic growth.
The programme was conducted with the support of Team Aaranyak, with active participation from women representing Chandrasing Rongpi, Barking Engti, Sem Engti and Hemai Lekthe villages.
Aaranyak said it remains committed to conserving the rich biodiversity and natural heritage of Northeast India by supporting indigenous people and local communities through alternative and sustainable livelihoods and nature-based solutions.
The Natural Resource Management Programme of Aaranyak is supported by IUCN-KfW, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Disney Conservation Fund.
