The tea bushes at the Pathibhara Tea Estate, spread across 51 hectares in Panchthar, an eastern hill district, are flush with fresh shoots these days.

The estate plucks and processes the ‘two leaves and a bud’ used to make high-quality premium loose-leaf tea, which it exports to third-country markets.

The factory has the capacity to employ up to 50 workers a day. However, only 10 to 15 workers are currently working at the estate in Falelung and Yangwarak rural municipalities.

Pathibhara, located at Charibhanjyang, is not alone. Most tea gardens in eastern Nepal are currently waiting for workers to pluck tea leaves. Tea gardens and factories pay workers Rs110 per kg for plucking leaves. In addition, workers receive extra wages for withering, rolling, processing, sorting and packaging tea in the mornings and evenings.

“Despite these incentives, tea gardens are facing a shortage of workers,” said Rajan Bhattarai, proprietor of the tea estate.

Experienced workers employed in the tea sector can normally earn up to Rs40,000 a month, including accommodation.

For Shashikala Rai from ward 2 of Falelung Rural Municipality who was plucking tea leaves, working on the hillside is not as strenuous as going abroad and working in the heat.

“At a time when our brothers and sisters are wandering around villages saying there are no job opportunities, and are forced to do strenuous work in 40-degree [Celsius] heat abroad, we are working in the cool and scenic tea gardens here,” she said.

“The earning is not bad either. We earn up to Rs40,000 a month. With such opportunities available, why go abroad?” said Rai. According to her, women workers account for a large share of those involved in tea plucking and processing.

In recent years, an increasing number of both men and women have been going abroad for employment. Most women who remain in the villages are increasingly moving to district headquarters and urban areas to live with their children for their education.

This has created a shortage of workers in small and medium-sized factories and tea gardens operating in rural areas.

Annually, nearly 800,000 Nepalis go abroad in search of jobs, leaving Nepal’s farm sector without sufficient manpower. In recent years, tea estates in eastern Nepal have been hit hard by the shortage of workers.

There are around 60,000 tea workers across eastern districts such as Ilam, Panchthar and Jhapa. Most are temporary or daily-wage labourers, meaning they miss out on steady year-round income and robust benefits. As a result, tea work has not been attractive to many.

Jeet Bahadur Limbu, another tea worker, said tea gardens offer employment for nine months of the year, except for the three-month period from early November to January. Limbu, however, said he is comfortable with the earnings.

“It is frustrating to see young people leaving the country saying they are unemployed despite such opportunities being available here,” Limbu said.

Organic orthodox tea produced here without using chemical fertilisers and pesticides is reaching international markets. Although production and market prospects are expanding, a shortage of workers is constraining the capacity of tea gardens.

Tea gardens producing orthodox tea that sell for Rs5,000 to Rs7,000 per kilogram in overseas markets are currently waiting for workers.

The tea leaves produced at Pathibhara and other tea gardens in Panchthar are processed into high-quality organic orthodox tea.

Bhattarai said tea produced without chemical fertilisers and pesticides comes in more than 10 flavours, with natural sweetness, a high-altitude aroma and a distinctive taste, generating demand in third-country markets. He said the tea is exported to international markets including the United States, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea and China.

According to data from the Tea Expansion Project (Chiya Bistar Yojana) in Lalikharka, Panchthar, a government-established tea garden managed by the National Tea and Coffee Development Board, Panchthar has six tea estates and factories and 10 small tea producer groups.

Tea is cultivated on 600 hectares across the district by estates and individual farmers. Although around 2,000 farmers are involved in tea farming through factories and producer groups, factories and tea gardens are facing a shortage of workers.

According to operators, Pathibhara alone produces around 8,000 kg of tea annually.

Bhattarai said the estate has developed the capacity to produce more than 12,000 kg if there is no shortage of workers, but the labour shortage is likely to affect production.

Demand for Nepali organic tea is increasing in international markets. Despite good local income, residential accommodation, and regular employment opportunities, the shortage of workers is delaying the plucking of tea shoots, Bhattarai said.

Nepal exports more than 88 percent of its orthodox tea to India, leaving only a small fraction for third-country markets.

Nepal processes 7,838 tonnes of orthodox tea annually. Exports of orthodox tea to third countries account for 11.4 percent. Orthodox tea uses traditional methods, including plucking, withering, rolling, oxidation and drying.

There are two types of exports: organic certified and uncertified. The export of organic-certified orthodox tea to third countries accounts for 21.63 percent.

A report by Nepal Rastra Bank highlights that Nepali organic orthodox tea has significant potential in Japan, China, the Netherlands, Canada, Russia, Poland, Turkey and South Korea.

Despite its potential, Nepali organic tea faces multiple challenges, including difficulties in marketisation, fair pricing, access to credit facilities and a lack of skilled workers.

Other obstacles include a lack of technical assistance, insurance and incentives for organic production. These challenges hinder orthodox tea entrepreneurs from unlocking potential new markets.

According to the central bank report, seven factories export to Japan, four to China, two to the United States and eight to other countries. The study included 84 orthodox tea factories and 42 orthodox tea growers.

In September 2020, Nepal’s orthodox tea received its own trademark, 157 years after the country began growing it. The trademark includes the words “Nepal Tea Quality from the Himalayas.” Koshi province has 100 orthodox tea processing factories, 21 of which are organically certified.