A refreshing cuppa for Kangra tea

The Special Purpose Tea Fund announced in the Budget is expected to play a pivotal role in reviving the ailing tea plantation in Kangra Valley of Himachal Pradesh.

Kangra tea, which is also popular for its medicinal properties, was of late in doldrums, but experts believe the announcement has given a ray of hope to the valley's dwindling tea Industry.

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

Tea Board of India, Development Officer, P Chhetry said, " The announcement would definitely boost area under tea cultivation. Although, after suffering a setback the tea industry in the valley is on developing track but it has long way to go, and the announcement will put the entire tea industry on fast track."

Under this fund, there is 25 per cent subsidy which would be provided by Tea Board of India, also the farmer can avail a loan of 50 per cent of the total cost from any commercial banks and rest 25 per cent would be funded by its own sources.

Kangra tea, which is also popular for its medicinal properties, was of late in doldrums, facing severe crises. As most tea growers in the Kangra valley have stopped tea cultivation or have begun to use their holdings for non-tea plantation purposes.

The plight of the Kangra tea industry can be gauged from the fact that four cooperative tea factories - Bir, Sidhwari, Baijnath and Palampur - only Palampur has survived. It is expected that in past it has suffered losses worth millions of rupees.

But again it is picking up with the aid of government and several other institution and boards. Currently, the other three closed cooperative factories are being run by private players on lease basis.

Also, apart from these factories, two more factories has been set up by private players in Dharamsala and Palampur. So experts believe that the launch of this new fund would definitely boost the morale of growers.

Also, the advancement done by the Institute of Himalayan Biodiversity Technology (IHBT) at Palampur by developing tea based products, is expected to further increase the yield and would provide win-win situation for the growers as well as the entrepreneur.

Recently, IHBT has developed value-added tea-based products, including tea based ready to drink, tea extracts, tea-cola and a range of beverages with healing properties that are free from hazardous chemicals.

IHBT, director, P S Ahuja said, "Besides, we have also developed a technology for preparing wines from the traditional variety of tea grown in large areas of the Kangra valley. We are also developing tea flavours and hope to introduce it very soon.

On whether it is looking for selling out technology to private players, he said, " It is at nascent stage, but definitely we would do it, as diversification of tea products will provide a broader market to the tea."