Since 2013, Zensho has partnered with a tea producers' cooperative that has been protecting and cultivating tea plantations near the Sinharaja Forest Reserve, a World Natural Heritage site in Sri Lanka, and has been working on fair trade in collaboration with a Japanese NGO.

Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, has long produced high-quality tea. To ensure that the tea leaves, nurtured by the natural blessings of its abundant forests, and the growing environment are passed on to future generations, producers have adhered to sustainable farming practices. Their efforts to protect the environment and quality, including obtaining organic JAS certification, have earned them recognition from society and the market.

However, when we first started trading, producers, following long-standing customs, did not taste the tea brewed from their own tea leaves, and there was no quality check through tasting. Therefore, when our fair trade representatives visit the local tea plantations, they are offered tea brewed as a token of appreciation for the producers' hard work. The rich aroma and flavor of the tea made from the leaves they picked themselves helps to strengthen the producers' passion for sustainable farming.

"Organic farming is time-consuming and difficult, but we want to bring smiles to the faces of those who drink our tea leaves," the producer told us. We want to convey this dedication of the producers to our customers.

Furthermore, Zensho is engaged in support activities tailored to local conditions in Sri Lanka. In 2017, during a flood disaster that caused damage to producers' homes and forced them to evacuate, Zensho Group conducted a fundraising campaign. These funds were used for local support activities, and fair trade representatives visited elementary schools and evacuation facilities in tea-producing areas to distribute shoes, socks, and mattresses that had become unusable due to the flood, using exchange vouchers or in person.

social development costs generated from the tea leaf trade are used for repairing and strengthening the riverbank behind the temple, which also serves as an evacuation site during floods, and for distributing first-aid kits to nurseries. As a follow-up initiative, they are currently working on the construction of a community hall that local residents can freely use for meetings and other gatherings, in order to revitalize community activities.

Zensho will continue to expand its network of cooperation in tea-producing regions, not only with producers but also with local residents, and will work together on activities that contribute to protecting the environment.