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A delegation of small tea growers that met the Union Commerce Minister, Mr Anand Sharma, on Wednesday received assurance that various problems facing the country's small tea growers would receive the attention of the Union Government in the 12{+t}{+h} Plan, according to Mr Bijoy Gopal Chakravarty, President, Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Associations (CISTA).
Mr Chakravarty led the delegation, which also included Mr D K Sarmah of All Assam Small Tea Growers Association, Mr Pronoy Basumatari of All Bodoland Small Tea Growers Association, Mr Tadak Gas of Arunachal Pradesh Small Tea Growers Association, Mr Pabitra Kar of All Tripura Small Tea Growers Association and Mr J John of Centre for Education & Communication, New Delhi.
The number of small tea growers in the country will be about 2.5 lakh, producing 257 million kg of tea, accounting for more than 27 per cent of the country's total tea production. The concentration of small tea growers is largest in Assam, followed by West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Other States having small tea growers include Kerala, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Bihar.
The various issues raised by CISTA at the meeting with the Union Commerce Minister included constitution of a separate directorate for small growers within the Tea Board, representation of the growers in various tea bodies including Tea Board, announcement of a special package for the growers, extension of easy credit facilities from commercial banks including introduction of plantation credit cards on the line of kisan credit cards and formation of SHGs (self help groups) to free growers from the stranglehold of middlemen controlling sale and processing of teas.
Mr Chakravarty, while talking to Business Line , expressed the view that like Kenya and Sri Lanka, where small growers contributed the bulk of the tea production and exports, the growers in India too could produce quality tea at low cost provided they received proper guidance in this regard from the appropriate authorities. “The Union Commerce indicated that Tea Research Association would be asked to look into the matter,” he added.
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