The Nilgiris Nelikolu Micro & Small Tea Growers and Farmers Development (NSTF) Society has reiterated its demand for fixation of a realistic price for green tea leaves of small tea growers.
The society has categorically stated that it was not satisfied with the report submitted by the Indian Institute of Plantation Management (IIPM) in this regard.
NSTF President H.N. Sivan told
“The IIPM did not take an independent approach. It had instead attempted to compare the cost estimation with the earlier report submitted by the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI). Mere comparison of the cost is of no significance to the present study,’ said the NSTF President.
The Madras High Court had directed the Government to study the problems of small tea growers and arrive at a scientific sharing formula between them and bought leaf factories, he said.
For arriving at the formula, the court had suggested that the Government could take note of the ICWAI Committee report and even call for another study to arrive at a ‘just and reasonable’ conclusion on the price to be paid for the green leaf, vide its judgment dated October 12, 2012.
The Tea Board sought the help of IIPM for conducting another study.
Small growers allege that the IIPM had only made a comparison of the cost with the earlier study conducted by the ICWAI and recommended the existing 65:35 price sharing ratio, without understanding why this ratio was recommended at all.
“IIPM has erred, as the 65:35 ratio was fixed at a time when the entire tea industry was in deep crisis. The said formula was evolved then to placate both – the small tea growers and the bought leaf factories to secure at least their cost of production. Over the last five years, the industry has grown and is looking up. The growers should, therefore, be benefitted proportionately,” he argued. Even the IIPM admitted fixing of Rs 85 as the cut off price for no loss situation for both parties, he added.
Voicing his objection to the bought leaf factories taking any amount more than the production cost and pre-determined profit margin, Sivan said ‘the entire price realisation over and above Rs 85 must be paid to the growers, because we supply the raw material to the bought leaf factories.”
The NSTF has appealed for a sustainable solution to this issue by fixing a realistic price sharing formula and honouring the court verdict.