The Tea Board India has announced a Rs 664.09 core project in order to support the stakeholders with a focus on increasing domestic consumption, better price realization, and exports by adopting a field-to-cups approach.
Tea Board India was formed on April 1, 1954, with an intention to provide: control by the union of the tea industry; control of international trade agreements; control of the cultivation of tea in India; control of export of tea from India; and to levy excise on tea.
Overall, the goal of Tea Board India is to make India the leading producer and supplier of quality tea in the global market. Today, Tea Board India also focuses on: developing effective management strategies for innovation in tea plantations; processing technology for producing good quality teas; the augmentation of high value tea exports; capacity building for human resources at all levels in the tea Industry; and strengthening of R&D efforts on all aspects of tea husbandry and technology.
India as a whole produced 181.71 million kg of tea—85.43 million kg by big growers and 96.28 million kg by small growers—in August 2024. Of 181.71 million kg of tea produced, 162.60 million kg was CTC, 16.34 million kg was orthodox, and 2.77 million kg was green tea.
A statement issued by the board recently said that under the new project, Tea Development and Promotion Scheme, stakeholders would be facilitated in plantation development, quality upgradation, tea promotion and market support, technological intervention, research and development, welfare and capacity building measures. "Through these scheme components, it is envisaged that right from the field to cup, every aspect of the tea industry would be touched upon and lead to holistic development," it said.
Some of the components of the project include support in replantation of tea bushes, assistance for raising nursery, setting up of new mini tea unit by self-help-groups, farmers producers companies for production of orthodox, green and specialty tea, annual awards for SHGs, FPOs, small tea growers, organic certification and conversion, ensuring quality checks, drawing and testing of tea sample, international brand promotion, supporting Indian origin tea cafes for diversifying to international markets.
The scheme comes amid serious concerns expressed by both big and small tea growers, estate and factory owners and traders about a bleak future of the industry mainly due to drop in production due to adverse impact of the weather, drop in prices, exports and increase in production costs. The Tea Association of India recently said the tea industry in Assam and Bengal was staring at a bleak future and called for more support to the stakeholders to save the industry and livelihoods of lakhs of people. According to a survey conducted by the Tea Board, domestic consumption has still remained low compared to other countries.
Key Components of the Scheme
- Plantation Development: Support for re-plantation and raising nurseries
- Quality Up-gradation: Assistance for setting up new mini tea units by self-help groups and farmer producer companies
- Tea Promotion and Market Support: Annual awards for SHGs, FPOs, and small tea growers
- Technological Intervention: Ensuring quality checks, drawing, and testing of tea samples
- Research and Development: Focus on improving tea quality and production
- Welfare and Capacity Building Measures: Support for labor welfare schemes and capacity building initiatives
The scheme aims to address concerns about the industry's bleak future, largely due to weather-related production drops, price declines, export decreases, and rising production costs. The Tea Association of India has emphasized the need for support to save the industry and livelihoods of millions.
Implementation and Impact
The scheme will run from 2023-24 to 2025-26, benefiting stakeholders across the tea industry. This initiative aims to increase domestic consumption, which remains low compared to other countries. By adopting a holistic approach, the Tea Board seeks to make the Indian tea industry more sustainable and competitive globally.
Reacting to the new project, former chairman of Tea Board , Prabhat Bezboruah, who is also a renowned tea planter in India, said the new schemes were useful, but seeing the Board’s record of paying approved and legitimate claims, it would be interesting to see if claims related to approved projects were actually paid in the future. He said that Tea Board was yet to pay more than Rs 200 crores of approved subsidy claims to the industry.
While welcoming the new initiatives announced by the Tea Board, the Assam Tea Planters’ Association, one of the oldest and largest tea growers body in the state of Assam said that such steps by the tea board encourages the tea planters and would help the industry to move ahead.
“Tea board should take measures to increase the domestic consumption tea which is a huge market. The Board should also encourage export of orthodox tea from Assam to foreign countries,” the chairman of ATPA, Soumodra Baruva told World Tea News.
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