Small tea growers have sought three assistances – minimum support price (MSP), fertiliser subsidy and bank finance to set up micro and mini factories – in the Union Budget to be presented next month.

The National Federation of Small Tea Growers (NFSTG) and its affiliated body Small Tea Growers’ Association of Southern India (STASI) have submitted pre-Budget memorandum to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

“The standing committee of Parliament has recommended a subsidy to be given to small farmers to meet the increasing cost of fertilisers. Accordingly, we have requested for a 50 per cent subsidy on the price of the fertilisers,” NFSTG President Samir Roy said.

“We have asked for a MSP of ₹25\kg of green leaf supplied by small growers to the factories. This has to be assured to cover the rising cost of production and leaving a reasonable margin to the small farmers. But, as this is the raw material price for the factories, we have sought for a matching MSP for the black tea manufactured by the factories”, STASI President S Ramu told Business Line .

“Following Tea Board’s decision to grant 40 per cent subsidy to small growers and societies, many small growers are coming forward to establish such facility to process their own tea leaves. However, they are finding it difficult to pump in the remaining 60 per cent of the cost of setting up such mini/micro factories. We have, therefore, appealed to the Finance Minister to specifically ensure that bank finance to the extent of ₹60 lakh to ₹1 crore is made available to small growers and their societies,” Ramu said.

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