Tea companies moot for palm oil production in tea estates, approach ITA

The Indian Tea Association (ITA) has approached the Tea Board of India to allow the tea plantation companies to manufacture palm oil in tea estate land. “We have asked the Tea Board to see if we can grow palm in our estates and manufacture palm oil. We need a big area for this”, Vivek Goenka, chairman of the ITA, said. 

According to Goenka, land use is a state subject and the the respective states can decide how to use land meant for tea cultivation. The tea growing states like West Bengal has already allowed use of tea estate land partially for