Mechanical harvesting of tea in central and Southern African region

摘要

Amongst member countries of the Tea Research Foundation of Central Africa [TRF(CA)], mechanical harvesting of tea first started in South Africa as early as 1980 in response to shortages of labour, and has been encouraged more recently by labour difficulties. In the early 1990s, many Mozambian refugees who had been employed on the estates in Zimbabwe returned to their own country. The Kawalazi estate in the north of the country threatened by a shortage of pluckers and by the expense and inconvenienceof bringing labour up from the south of Malawi, a region which generally has not faced the same problems as its neighbours.