The Hindu Business Line : Separate cell for small tea growers soon

Kolkata, Sept. 11 The Tea Board, according to its Chairman, Mr Basudeb Banerjee, is to soon have a separate cell for the small tea-growers. “We are also planning to open offices in places such as Dibrugarh, Jalpaiguri, Itanagar and Wayanad mainly to cater to the requirements of the small tea growers,” Mr Banerjee told Business Line here on Thursday. “We’re awaiting Government approvals for the posts to be created for the proposed outfits.”

The number of small tea gardens in the country, the Tea Board Chairman estimated, would be about 1,33,000 and together they accounted for nearly 27 per cent of the country’s total tea production. “It is not a small volume,” he observed.

The small tea growers, as he pointed out, faced several problems. For example, in Assam, more than 90 per cent of the growers did not have clear titles of the land they used for growing teas. The problem persisted in varying degrees in other States also.

Board initiatives

Many State Governments trying to circumvent the problem through various measures and the Tea Board, while extending assistance to any small grower under any scheme, would go by the State Government certificates. “We’re also trying to help the growers through group approach,” he said, adding, “We’re flexible in this regard.”

Another problem is related to the lack of proper management expertise among the small growers. The Tea Board, the Chairman said, would be happy to extend necessary help for providing training. “In the Eleventh Plan, we’ve been provided with adequate funds for the promotion of HRD related issues, particularly management and training, for the tea industry,” he said.

Earlier, while addressing the quarterly executive committee meeting of the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers association here, Mr Banerjee referred to yet another initiative by the Tea Board to help the small tea growers. The Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, had been asked to develop a prototype of commercially viable tea processing unit to be suited for the small growers. “The existing unit at Tocklai Tea Research Association is good for experimental but not for commercial purpose,” he said. “We will fund the IIT project.”

State representations

Except for the small tea growers of the Kundah area in the Nilgiris, where the bushes were old, the benefits available under the Special Purpose Tea Fund could not be extended to other small growers due to the young age of their bushes, he added.

During the interactive session, the representatives of small tea growers from across the country raised various issues.

While Kishanganj district in Bihar produced sizeable quantities of green leaf by a large number of small growers, there were not many processing units. The unit set up by the State, with the help of the Central Government, had remained idle for the past couple of years.

The small growers in Dhalai district in Tripura were required to send their leaf to a processing unit located more than 100 kms away. The representative of Himachal Pradesh drew attention of the Tea Board Chairman to the problem of marketing tea produced in the State.

The Chairman emphasised the need for maintaining the unique identity of the Kangra Valley tea and suggested the producers interact with the producers of Darjeeling teas to tap the export potential of Kangra tea.

The representatives of Tamil Nadu and Kerala also explained the problems facing the small tea growers in their respective States.