Assam produces 650 million kg tea per year and a quarter of it is sold through the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre, Industry Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary told the Assembly today.
Fifteen per cent of the produce is sold through the Kolkata Tea Auction Centre and the rest to tea traders, Patowary said in reply to a question by Naren Sonowal (AGP) in the House.
Financial incentives are also provided through Tea Board of India to tea producers for value addition, creation of infrastructure, maintenance of cleanliness, blending, colour sorting, packaging, etc, the minister said.
To ensure small tea growers get fair price for their green leaf, District Level Monitoring Committee are being formed under each District Deputy Commissioner, he said, adding, as per Tea Board's Tea Marketing Control Order (TMCO) guideline, the price of green leaf is decided as per the auctioned price of tea of the factory buying the leaf.
As per the Tea Board's 2016 Baseline Survey Data, there are 767 big tea gardens in Assam, 409 of which are public limited companies, 253 proprietor-owned, 82 in partnership and 23 public sector owned, he said.