Workshop for small tea growers held

JALPAIGURI, Dec. 12: A workshop on the "Emergence of Small Tea Growers: Boom and Shaping the Socio-economic Re-structure in Rural Areas of North Bengal and Sikkim" was held today by the Institute for Plantation Agricultural and Rural Workers in Collaboration with the National Small Tea Growers’ Federation India in Jalpaiguri.

According to one of the organisers, Mr Samir Roy, several small tea growers of Assam, Bihar, Sikkim and West Bengal participated in the workshop and discussed about development of small tea growers in the North-East region was the topic of discussion. “Several problems regarding infrastructure and information regarding tea plantation were discussed in the workshop,” he said.

Mr Roy said that the Centre and the Tea Board of India must have a positive approach towards the small tea growers for the sector's development as an industry.
Mr VV Dobal, chief adviser of the Cooperative Society of Small Tea Growers in Sikkim, said that the small tea sector has great potential in Sikkim. “There were around 90 growers working on 250 acres of land in Sikkim but they face a lot of problems because of the lack of facilities,” he said.

The DM Jalpaiguri as well as the chairman of the North Bengal Tea Auction Centre, Mrs Vandana Yadav, appreciated the initiative and said that the workshop would help the small tea growers. “The state government has started a survey of small tea plantations and I am hopeful that the small tea sector would develop soon,” the DM said.

From: The Statesman