Tea and Coffee Board addresses problems of small growers
Updated: Apr 29, 2013 04:49:53pm
New Delhi, Apr 29 (KNN) Having made a comprehensive analysis of the problems of small tea and coffee growers in the country, the Tea and Coffee Board has offered different packages to provide unliftment and relief.
In the absence of a specific package for small growers of tea and coffee, “a Coffee Debt Relief Package was offered in the year 2010 for the debt ridden small coffee growers and a total of 1,35,283 small coffee growers were benefited under the package with a financial benefit of Rs.293.45 crores to the small growers by the end of March 2013,” said Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, D Purandeswari, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Further, to support small tea growers, a separate directorate has been set up to extend financial and technical support. The directorate would motivate them to organise themselves into collectives to establish one to one direct linkage with processing factories.
Currently in the tea sector, there are more than two lakh growers, concentrated in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Tripura and Himachal Pradesh. Then again, in the recent years, other northeastern states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland have also taken up tea cultivation.
This small tea sector however is highly unorganised. Owing to the fragmented and scattered nature of holdings, small growers and the workers employed in the small holdings are restricted to the very bottom of the value chain, the Minister explained.
As far as the coffee sector is concerned, there are at present 2.8 lakh coffee holdings in the country of which 99 per cent belong to the small growers category – holding 10 ha and less.
To cater to this group, the Coffee Board over a period of time has evolved strategies and programmes by implementing various schemes for their upliftment. (KNN)
In the absence of a specific package for small growers of tea and coffee, “a Coffee Debt Relief Package was offered in the year 2010 for the debt ridden small coffee growers and a total of 1,35,283 small coffee growers were benefited under the package with a financial benefit of Rs.293.45 crores to the small growers by the end of March 2013,” said Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, D Purandeswari, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Further, to support small tea growers, a separate directorate has been set up to extend financial and technical support. The directorate would motivate them to organise themselves into collectives to establish one to one direct linkage with processing factories.
Currently in the tea sector, there are more than two lakh growers, concentrated in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Tripura and Himachal Pradesh. Then again, in the recent years, other northeastern states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland have also taken up tea cultivation.
This small tea sector however is highly unorganised. Owing to the fragmented and scattered nature of holdings, small growers and the workers employed in the small holdings are restricted to the very bottom of the value chain, the Minister explained.
As far as the coffee sector is concerned, there are at present 2.8 lakh coffee holdings in the country of which 99 per cent belong to the small growers category – holding 10 ha and less.
To cater to this group, the Coffee Board over a period of time has evolved strategies and programmes by implementing various schemes for their upliftment. (KNN)
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