Tanganda Tea is the biggest grower and producer of tea and coffee in Zimbabwe and one of the biggest tea producers in Africa. It is a competing food corporation in Zimbabwe, and forms part of the Meikles Group, a major Zimbabwean company which also owns hotels and department stores in southern Africa.
Tanganda is based in Mutare in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. The first tea bushes planted in Zimbabwe originated from a box of seeds smuggled out of India in 1924 by Mrs Florence Phillips, a tea-planter's wife from Assam, and were planted near Chipinge. The success of the harvest encouraged the formation of a company, Ward and Phillips (Pty) Ltd, which owned New Year's Gift and Ratelshoek Estates near Chipinge, and which formed the nucleus of the Tanganda Tea company. The bulk of the company's tea is still grown around Chipinge, although the company now buys in substantial amounts of tea from small-scale independent growers.
Tanganda Tea sells its brand of tea in Zimbabwe and throughout central Africa.
Manicaland is a province in eastern Zimbabwe. After Harare Province, it is the country's second-most populous province, with a population of 2.037 million, as of the 2022 census. After Harare and Bulawayo provinces, it is Zimbabwe's third-most densely populated province. Manicaland was one of five original provinces established in Southern Rhodesia in the early colonial period. The province endowed with country's major tourist attractions, the likes of Mutarazi Falls, Nyanga National Park and Zimbabwe's top three highest peaks. The province is divided into ten administrative subdivisions of seven rural districts and three towns/councils, including the provincial capital, Mutare. The name Manicaland is derived from one of the province's largest ethnic groups, the Manyika, who originate from the area north of the Manicaland province and as well as western Mozambique, who speak a distinct language called ChiManyika in Shona.
The Eastern Highlands, also known as the Manica Highlands, is a mountain range on the border of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The Eastern Highlands extend north and south for about 300 kilometres (190 mi) through Zimbabwe's Manicaland Province and Mozambique's Manica Province.
Chipinge District is a district in Manicaland Province of Zimbabwe. The administrative headquarters is Chipinge.
Nilgiri tea is a drink made by infusing leaves of Camellia sinensis that is grown and processed in the Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu, India. The leaves are processed as black tea, though some estates have expanded their product offerings to include leaves suitable for making green, white and oolong teas. It is generally described as being a brisk, fragrant and full-bodied tea. The region produces both rolled and crush, tear, curl tea and it is predominantly used for blending. Nilgiri tea is also used for making iced tea and instant tea.
Chisumbanje is an area in the province of Manicaland in Zimbabwe. It is situated in Chipinge District, one of seven districts in the province. It is located in Dowoyo communal land on the eastern bank of the Save River, about 95 km (59 mi) south of Birchenough Bridge on the Birchenough Bridge-Chiredzi road.
Camellia sinensis, the source of tea leaves and buds, can be grown in much of the United States. Commercial cultivation has been tried at various times and locations since the 1700s, but tea has remained a niche crop and has never been cultivated widely in the US. As of 2020, the US mainland has one relatively large plantation with full mechanization in Charleston, South Carolina, and many small commercial tea gardens that pick tea by hand. Some growers feel that tea production is not economically viable without some mechanization, but there is evidence that unmechanized tea production is viable, albeit with lower net profit margins. Most domestically grown teas are available through mail order and online purchases.
Dairibord Zimbabwe Ltd is a milk and dairy products producer, based in Zimbabwe, southern Africa.
British Sugar plc is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods and the sole British producer of sugar from sugar beet, as well as medicinal cannabis.
Chipinge, formerly known as Chipinga, is a town in Zimbabwe, located in Chipinge District, in Manicaland Province, in southeastern Zimbabwe, close to the border with Mozambique.
Hippo Valley Estate is a sugar estate found near the town of Chiredzi in Chiredzi District of southeastern Zimbabwe, on the Runde River near the border with Mozambique.
Elementis plc is one of the UK's largest speciality chemicals and personal care businesses, with extensive operations in the United States, Europe and Asia. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
India is one of the largest tea producers in the world, although over 70 percent of its tea is consumed within India itself. A number of renowned teas, such as Assam and Darjeeling, also grow exclusively in India. The Indian tea industry has grown to own many global tea brands and has evolved into one of the most technologically equipped tea industries in the world. Tea production, certification, exportation and all facets of the tea trade in India are controlled by the Tea Board of India.
Muller Conrad "Billy" Rautenbach is a Zimbabwean businessman, whose ventures have included companies involved in transport, cobalt and platinum mining, and biofuel production, primarily in Africa. The 2022 Data Leaks at Credit Suisse appeared to confirm allegations – for which he had faced American and European sanctions in earlier years that Rautenbach used the proceeds from a mining deal to support the ZANU-PF regime of dictator Robert Mugabe, during the latter's repressive 2008 election campaign in Zimbabwe. From 1999 to 2009, Rautenbach was a fugitive from fraud and corruption charges in South Africa.
Sibonile Nyamudeza is the MDC-T winning candidate for Chipinge West in the March 2008 elections in Zimbabwe. He was born at Tanganda in Chipinge on 10 March 1967. After completing his high school education at Gideon Mhlanga High School, Hon. Nyamudeza studied for a qualification in machine shop engineering, which he obtained in 1987.
Malawian cannabis, particularly the strain known as Malawi Gold, is internationally renowned as one of the finest sativa strains from Africa. According to a World Bank report it is among "the best and finest" marijuana strains in the world, generally regarded as one of the most potent psychoactive pure African sativas. The popularity of this variety has led to such a profound increase in marijuana tourism and economic profit in Malawi that Malawi Gold is listed as one of the three "Big C's" in Malawian exports: chambo, chombe (tea), and chamba (cannabis).
African Rainbow Minerals Limited is a mining company based in South Africa. ARM has interests in a wide range of mines, including platinum and platinum group metals (PGMs), iron, coal, copper, and gold. ARM's Goedgevonden coalmine near Witbank is a flagship of their joint venture with Xstrata, and produces 6.7 million tons of coal per year. Production is expanding at the Two Rivers platinum mine in Mpumalanga. ARM owns 20% of Harmony Gold, the 12th largest gold mining company in the world with three mining operations in South Africa. Patrice Motsepe is the executive chairman; Mike Schmidt is CEO.
Energy in Zimbabwe is a serious problem for the country. Extensive use of firewood leads to deforestation and the electricity production capacity is too low for the current level of consumption.
Blantyre and East Africa Ltd is a company that was incorporated in Scotland in 1898 and is still in existence. Its main activity was the ownership of estates in the south of what is now Malawi. The main estate crops it grew were tobacco until the 1950s and tea, which it continued to grow until the company’s tea estates were sold. Blantyre and East Africa Ltd was one of four large estate-owning companies in colonial Nyasaland which together owned over 3.4 million acres of land, including the majority of the fertile land in the Shire Highlands. The company acquired most of its landholdings between 1898 and 1901 from several early European settlers, whose title to this land had been recognised by Certificates of Claim issued by the administration of the British Central Africa Protectorate. After the boom for Europeans growing tobacco ended in about 1927, the company retained one large estate in Zomba District where its tenants were encouraged to grow tobacco and others where it grew tea. It was also left with a scattering of small estates that it neither operated nor effectively managed but obtained cash rents from African tenants on crowded and unsupervised estates. Many of its estates, excluding the tea estates which it continued to manage directly, were sold to the colonial administration of Nyasaland between 1950 and 1955.
Kenya Tea Development Agency Holdings (KTDA) is a Kenyan company that provides comprehensive services to more than 600,000 small tea farmers such as agri-extension, transportation, processing, and marketing.
Bangladesh is an important tea-producing country. It is the 12th largest tea producer in the world. Its tea industry dates back to British rule, when the East India Company initiated the tea trade in the hills of the Sylhet region. In addition to that, tea cultivation was introduced to Greater Chittagong in 1840. Today, the country has 166 commercial tea estates, including many of the world's largest working plantations. The industry accounts for 3% of global tea production, and employs more than 4 million people.