 "Commerce secretary asks tea board to reinvent")
Tea Board India needs to reinvent itself to meet the industry’s needs, said commerce secretary Rita Teaotia here on Thursday. Addressing the India International Tea Convention 2016 organised by United Planters' Association of Southern India (UPASI) and the Tea Board, she said the Tea Board should move away from focusing only on subsidy.
She said the plantation sector should reinvent itself in processes, quality, and branding for better realisation. Teaotia noted while 43,000 hectares were replanted and 9,700 hectares were rejuvenated last year, more efforts should be taken in this direction.
“This is the time to focus on quality, but there is a need to increase production also,” she added. Teaotia said the commerce ministry is working with the labour ministry to create transparency in wage structure. She also asked state governments to provide basic facilities such as water and housing so that the burden on the plantation sector would come down.
N Dharmaraj, president of UPASI, said that for more sustainable development, focus should be on improving quality, value-addition, and mass marketing.
He noted that out of the 1,250 million kg of tea is produced in the country, around 20 per cent is produced in south India. Of the total production, 240 million kg of tea is exported in which south India’s share is around 40 per cent, he added.
According to him, labour costs account for 60 per cent of the total cost of the plantation sector.
Bidyananda Barkakoty, vice-chairman of Tea Board, called for more dialogue among stakeholders to overcome the problems in the sector. He said price realisation was not in tune with production costs. However, cutting down production is not the solution – creating demand is.
Tea Board will support entrepreneurs to set up boutiques within the country; it will also give financial support up to Rs 2 crore to set up packaging units outside India.
As many as 1,421 tea gardens are graded in the country by Tea Board under seven categories to identify problems of gardens and to take corrective measures.
She said the plantation sector should reinvent itself in processes, quality, and branding for better realisation. Teaotia noted while 43,000 hectares were replanted and 9,700 hectares were rejuvenated last year, more efforts should be taken in this direction.
“This is the time to focus on quality, but there is a need to increase production also,” she added. Teaotia said the commerce ministry is working with the labour ministry to create transparency in wage structure. She also asked state governments to provide basic facilities such as water and housing so that the burden on the plantation sector would come down.
N Dharmaraj, president of UPASI, said that for more sustainable development, focus should be on improving quality, value-addition, and mass marketing.
He noted that out of the 1,250 million kg of tea is produced in the country, around 20 per cent is produced in south India. Of the total production, 240 million kg of tea is exported in which south India’s share is around 40 per cent, he added.
According to him, labour costs account for 60 per cent of the total cost of the plantation sector.
Bidyananda Barkakoty, vice-chairman of Tea Board, called for more dialogue among stakeholders to overcome the problems in the sector. He said price realisation was not in tune with production costs. However, cutting down production is not the solution – creating demand is.
Tea Board will support entrepreneurs to set up boutiques within the country; it will also give financial support up to Rs 2 crore to set up packaging units outside India.
As many as 1,421 tea gardens are graded in the country by Tea Board under seven categories to identify problems of gardens and to take corrective measures.
Tea Board along with IIT is developing a handheld device to check quality, he said.
