A view from the Labookellie Tea Factory in Sri Lanka’s Nuwara Eliya district. Directly and indirectly, over one million Sri Lankans are employed in the tea industry. A large proportion of the workforce is young women and the minimum working age is twelve.

Inside a tea factory in the Nuwara Eliya district in Sri Lanka.

A woman picks tea leaves in Sri Lanka’s Nuwara Eliya district. Standing all day, in the sun, working year round these women often have to hand pick 17kgs of tea leaves a day. Some of these women have been doing this for 20 years, for a wage equivalent to around $5 USD a day.

Machinery inside a tea factory in the Nuwara Eliya Tea district in Sri Lanka.

An employee of a tea factory, airing tea leaves.

Machinery inside a tea factory in the Nuwara Eliya Tea district in Sri Lanka.

Tea leaves at their final stage of production. Being the second biggest tea producer behind India, this industry generates an annual turn over of approximately $60 million USD for Sri Lanka. Equating to around 330 million kilos of tea leaves being picked a year.

Tea leaves on a belt in a tea factory in the Nuwara Eliya Tea district in Sri Lanka.

Bags of tea ready to be exported.

Machinery inside a tea factory in the Nuwara Eliya Tea district in Sri Lanka.