SILIGURI: Steady rise for small tea sector

BY AVIJIT SINHA

Siliguri, Jan. 14: The small tea sector has grown steadily in north Bengal in a decade, producing 70 million kg of tea a year — more than one-third of the total production of the region. Tea Board of India sources said the entire north Bengal contributes around 200 million kg of brew annually.

The four districts of the region now employ around 70,000 people in the small plantations that have seen a four-fold rise in the past 10 years, a recent survey has revealed.

Another 1 lakh workforce is dependent indirectly on the sector with its 20,000 plantations. The growth of the sector came to light in the survey conducted by the state land and land reforms department on the status of small tea growers till December 31, 2009.

The 20,000 plantations are spread over 63,498.90 acres. The figure, small tea growers say, was 5,675 plantations spread over 35,000 acres in 1998, when the sector was just emerging.

“Considering the figures at the recent survey report, we feel that around 30 per cent of the growers or plantations have not been recorded. Both the number of plantations as well as the area will go up if these growers are included,” said Bijoygopal Chakraborty, the vice-president of the United Forum of Small Tea Growers’ Association.

Gardens with areas ranging from 10.12-40 acres are usually called small plantations. But there are small planters who own 100 acres. They are classified as small growers since they do not have factories of their own to process the tea.

“There are about 70,000 workers employed in the small tea sector. If we add the growers themselves, the workers in the bought-leaf factories where our tea is processed, the transporters and their employees who carry the leaves to the BLFs, it will be another 1 lakh people. All this has been possible because of tea has a steady market these days,” Chakraborty said.

The figures reveal that the Chopra block in North Dinajpur has the highest concentration of small plantations — 7,223 — spread over 20,179 acres (see chart). The lowest number of plantations is in Nagrakata block of Jalpaiguri district, which has only two gardens spread over an area of 336 acres.

Small growers have attributed the growth to a steady mechanism of merchandising tea, which is cash crop. “Hundreds of paddy cultivators have shifted to tea, the sole reason being the prices and the market. The rise in domestic consumption as well as exports have further added to change,” Chakraborty said.

“We feel that it is time now for the government to draft a master plan for a comprehensive development of this labour-intensive sector and extended facilities for our members and workers. The Centre should also come forward.”

Nitai Majumdar, who represents the North Bengal Small Tea Planters’ Association, said the growth was like that of the pineapple sector but with a difference.

“Similar growth was witnessed in the pineapple sector but the cultivators could not sustain themselves because of the absence of a market mechanism and adequate processing units. Tea is obviously in a better place,” he said. “An initiative from the state government is necessary to regulate the sector and simultaneously help in its development to avoid any impasse in the future.”