Kangra tea growers seek financial aid from Himachal govt

The tea growers of Kangra valley in Himachal Pradesh are seeking financial help from the state government to save the tea plantations from extinction.

Experts in the trade said apart from other factors, proper marketing of the Kangra tea, known for its medicinal properties, could be panacea for the tea growers.

The total area under tea cultivation in the Kangra Valley has been reduced to 2,312 hectares from 4,000 hectares. Of the 3,679 growers, majority have small holdings between 0.25 - 2 hectares. At present, 625 hectares of land are abandoned and about 469 hectares are neglected in the area.

Commenting upon the reasons behind decrease in area, BBL Butail, a tea grower and a member of Kangra Valley Small Tea Planters Association, said, "Labour accounts for 70 -80 per cent of the unit cost of production. Elsewhere in the country, it is only 40 per cent. Also, the growers are reluctant to cultivate high-yielding varieties of the crop due to long gestation period and high input cost."

The average per hectare production of tea in Kangra valley is about 700-800 per kg, far behind the national average of Rs 3,200 per kg, he said.

Butail said adequate funds were not being provided to tea factories by the state government.

Most tea growers in the valley have stopped tea cultivation or have started using their holdings for non-tea plantation purposes. The plight of the Kangra tea industry can be gauged from the fact that of the four cooperative tea factories - Bir, Sidhwari, Baijnath and Palampur, only Palampur has survived.

It is expected that in past it has suffered losses worth crores of rupees. Other three closed cooperative factories are being run by private players on lease basis.

"Our technology is obsolete, so we expect that the government should impart knowledge to us about the latest technique available in the Industry. Also, the need of the hour is to market the product aggressively. As majority of the planter fall in small category, they can not market their product all alone, so we expect that the government should strengthen the marketing network in order to revive the tea Industry," Butail said.

The tea-based products, developed by the Institute of Himalayan Biodiversity Technology (IHBT) at Palampur, are expected to improve the situation of tea industry in Kangra. IHBT has developed tea drink, tea extracts, tea-cola and a range of beverages with healing properties.