The Hindu Business Line : Nilgiri tea producers to create own brand equity

AFTER the Darjeeling tea gardens, it is now the turn of the Nilgiri tea producers who want to create their own brand equity and promote themselves as a niche market segment by going in for a GI (geographical indications) identity.

However, unlike the Darjeeling tea sector where the mandatory legislation has been passed by Parliament - a requirement of the World Trade Organisation — the Nilgiri producers want to create their own special identity by following certain benchmarked standards.

The move has been initiated by the Nilgiri Planters' Association (NPA).

The association has created its logo which is different from the Nilgiri logo being promoted by the Tea Board.

According to Mr Titus Gerard Pinto, Chairman of the association, its members own 36 tea gardens and 25 tea factories and their total production is 16 million kg. These gardens are located in Ooty, Coonoor and Kotagiri.

However, the Nilgiri tea growing region is larger than that covered by its members.

Mr Pinto said that the Tea Board Nilgiri logo is loosely used by everyone in the region.

"Though Nilgiri tea estates are to be found at an altitude ranging from 2,000 feet to 8,000 feet, our members are located between 4,000 feet and 8,000 feet. Only these members will be allowed to use the NPA logo," Mr Pinto told Business Line.

The association has already prepared separate standards for quality, safety, labour, hygiene, environment and pesticide usage. Members who are allowed to use the NPA logo have to follow these standards.

"We have just completed our first job of registering the logo. Our next job is to promote this logo in the different markets all over the world. Our intention is that buyers are assured of good-quality Nilgiri teas once they see the NPA logo on the product," he said.

Mr Pinto ruled out any GI registration of Nilgiri tea in the manner Darjeeling has been registered.

According to him, the whole process requires lot of money and, currently, the NPA members are not in a position to afford such expenditure because the tea sector in the South has been suffering from poor prices for almost five years in a row.

Some time ago, Mr N.K. Das, Chairman of the Tea Board, had said that giving GI status to other tea growing areas like Nilgiri, Dooars or Assam was difficult because while earlier the Nilgiris used to produce superior quality of tea which fetched producers a premium price, over the years the quality had deteriorated for several reasons. The result was that today Nilgiri teas had become only "fillers" for tea blends.

He had also said that giving GI status to tea growing areas like Nilgiri, Dooars or Assam would be difficult as these areas were very large and there was hardly any uniformity in the quality of the teas produced in any particular region. This apart, these teas were consumed mostly within the country.

Mr Pinto, however, felt there was good potential for promoting Nilgiri teas in the global market.

He ruled out adding new members to the NPA who are not located in the region currently covered by the association.

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