India’s tea plantation sector is in deep crisis. Significant changes in the structure of global value chains for tropical commodities transformed the Indian tea industry, where tea production in industrial plantations is partly augmented by smallholder cultivation. Against this background, a research project carried out by the Centre for Development Research at FU Berlin aims to perform an in-depth and empirically informed analysis of production networks in the small tea-growing sector of Assam. It aims to explore the distinct patterns of regional agrarian transformation, to examine changing local agricultural practices and agrarian relations and their impacts on local conflict configurations. Three perspectives guide the project:

• The examination of smallholder production networks in the tea-growing sector as key to better understand regional transformation and agricultural change.
• Basic empirical research about social practices in smallholder tea cultivation and production.
• Contributions to the nexus of agrarian relations and peace geographies.

These perspectives allow for a holistic assessment of the smallholder turn in Assam tea production as a recent phenomenon. A better and empirically informed understanding of local relations of production and its embeddedness in local society, culture, economy and conflict promises new insights into the discussion about commodity chains and production networks and their relations to peace geographies. Such an understanding also helps to assess the political, social and economic repercussions of a comprehensive rural transformation.