TEA BOARD OF INDIA

Development of Small Tea Holdings in

India
 Small tea growers (STG) in India
Growers with area up to 10.12 ha are
considered as small tea growers.
Cultivation of tea by STG began in 1920s in
small scale in South India and spread to NE
India in late1980s
Currently, there are ~ 200000 growers
cultivating tea in ~ 160 000 hectares
The contribution from small sector has gone up
from 5% in early 90s to 31% now and it is
expected to touch 50% within next few years.
In absolute terms production volume is around
350 million kgs. In its absence India would
have become net importer of tea for meeting
Production and share of Small Sector in India

Year Production %Share in total

million kg production

2011 316.73 28.39%

2012 363.09 32.24%

2013 374.91 31.23%

 Problems of Small growers
Because of their scattered small
size holdings, small tea growers
are by and large unorganized.

They have no processing facilities

of their own and supply their
green leaf to private bought leaf
factories or estate factories either
directly or through leaf collection
agents.

Presently there are >600 BLFs

 Operation of small sector in India
Auction
Agent
s B
U
BLFs Y
DIRECT DIRECT SALE
E
R

Small Growers
PROCUREMENT OF MANUFACTURING OF MARKETING OF
GREEN LEAVES MADE TEA MADE TEA

Mainly (80%) through Average Production Mainly (90%)

green leaf agents who Capacity 0.5 0.6 Mn. Kgs. through Direct
procure leaf from small per year Sales /Private
growers Treaties,
Technologically at or near
No close linkage par with estate sector ;Yet
with small growers quality perceived to be lower
as compared to estate
 SWOT ANALYSIS -
Strength
Low cost of production
Young age profile with high yield potential
Weakness
Lack of capital, skills & technology
Fragmented, uneconomic holdings
Opportunity
Low investment needed
Improve yields and quality with dramatic
results
Threat
Social unrest likely if price does not improve
 Institutional Framework for development of
Small holdings in India

For helping the growers for improving

their farm productivity and quality of
their produce, and

providing them with a market access

to ensure a reasonable returns

A separate Small Grower

Development Directorate with
adequate technical man power has
been set up in 2013.
 Small Grower Development directorate
The tasks assigned are:
Enumeration of STGS and issue smart cards
for becoming members of primary producer
groups for availing the common benefits and
also for supplying green leaf to the tea
factories registered with Tea Board
Better extension services
Better management from plantation to
marketing-Improvement of quality & value
addition-Development of Export potential
Better price realization via Price Sharing
formula
Smart Card for the Small Growers Front View
Smart Card Back view
Chief Minister of Assam Sjt Tarun Gogoi, handing over
Smart card to a Small Tea Grower at a function held in
Tezpur on 28th April 2012.
 Steps taken to help small growers
Financial assistance is extended for :
Field Development - new planting,
replanting, rejuvenation pruning and infilling
the vacancies,
creation of irrigation facilities,
organizing self help groups (SHG),
participation in the study tours,
setting up of nurseries,
organizing training programes and
extension services
establishing tea processing factories by
SHGs and micro and mini factories by
individual or group of small growers .
 Price sharing formula
In order to ensure that the small tea
growers get a reasonable price for their
green leaf this formula was notified under
Tea marketing Control Order(TMCO)in
2004
It provides for equitable sharing of the
tea price between the growers and the
manufacturers
It has taken in to account the cost of
production of green leaf in the small
holdings and cost of manufacturing and
marketing by the Bought Leaf Factories.
 Quality upgradation programme

This programme was first launched in

South India in 2000 and it was extended
to N.E. Region and other parts in 2002.

The objective is to create wide awareness

amongst the small tea growers and
manufacturers about the need to upgrade
the quality of their produce.

The linkage with the factories with the

quality tea procurement and service
centers has resulted in getting consistently
higher prices and thereby ensuring
remunerative prices for the green leaf
supplied by the small growers.
 Study Tours
Study tours are being organized for
the small growers to visit various tea
growing regions within the country and
also abroad.

Normally, the growers from N.E states

and West Bengal are sent to South
India and growers from South India are
taken to Assam and North Bengal.

Entire cost of travel and boarding and

lodging is borne by Tea Board.
Setting up of Self Help groups (SHGs)
Growers are encouraged to set up collectives -
for easy technical support and establishing
direct linkage with factories to get a reasonable
price.
Financial assistance is given to SHGs :
for setting up of leaf collection centers ,
purchase of weighing balances and leaf carry
bags/plastic crates etc. (100% grant)
purchase of transport vehicles (50% grant)
Setting up of Tea processing factories
micro/mini/big (40% grant)
Revolving corpus fund for procurement of field
inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, sprayers,
The Strategy
Integration of
the chain

Strive for
Support for
better yield
export and
and good
value addition
manufacturing
practice

Assured
returns to the
STGs & BLFs
 The Tasks Ahead

Tasks that are to be undertaken parallely

in order to achieve the total integrated
development of the sector.
1. Legislation & Policies
2. MIS
3. Post Harvest Linkage
4. Market Linkage
5. Quality Upgradation
 Task 1 Legislation & Policies

1.Compulsory disclosure of leaf

purchased, processed and sold
through auction or otherwise by
all BLF in value & volume
2.The state governments to
formalize the ownership of all the
lands under cultivation having no
title deed.
 Task 2 MIS
1. Create & maintain exhaustive database for
the STGs, their area under cultivation,
status of land & yield.
2. Maintain Database of green leaf collection
centers and dispatches.
3. Create exhaustive database of the BLFs &
Estate factories buying green leaves from
outside.
4. Also maintain structured database of the
returns submitted by the BLFs.
5. Integration of the above database
 Task 3 Post Harvest Linkage
Formation of Collectives to handle the
post harvest management collectively.
- Modalities of formation of groups
Details of members, governing body,
legislation etc
Support required for the groups
- for setting up leaf collection centers
- for transportation of green leaves
Linkage with the BLFs
 Task 4 Market Linkage

Explore possibilities of market

linkage for export & domestic
market.
Design marketing link by setting up
a consortium.
Decide on Blending & Packaging
requirements
Plan support required for marketing
 Task 5 Quality Upgradation

Adopting best plucking practices &

transportation norms.
Extension activities for improved crop
husbandry
Quality standard certification.
- All issues related to soil conditions,
pruning practices, seeds & clones,
area expansion, increase in yield,
pesticides & manure,
Quality issues related to Tea Processing
Thank you