Seeds, Stories & Solidarity (Fall 2025) - Magazine - Page 17
Colonial roots, neoliberal immiseration
Many consumers around the world are familiar with
“Ceylon,” Sri Lanka’s old colonial name that continues
to brand its largest agricultural export: Ceylon tea.
Portuguese, Dutch, and later British rule established
plantations as the foundation of the colonial economy. To
this day, the renowned black tea is harvested by mostlywomen “tea pluckers” under abhorrent conditions.
For women peasants operating family farms, many have
been targeted by a largely unregulated microfinance
industry that has buried them in debt—with interest rates
from 28 to 89 percent. These women report constant
harassment and intimidation from loan collectors, including
sexual violence. Of the 2.8 million borrowers since the
emergence of microfinance in the late 2000s, 2.4 million
are women.
The climate crisis has further compounded this deadly debt
trap: crop failures due to erratic weather patterns plunge
peasant women further into debt. The tragic consequence,
shares Anuka, has been a rash of suicides by women
farmers, sometimes together with their families.
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