Fall in prices of green tea leaves hits hard small tea growers

A CORRESPONDENT

BISWANATH CHARIALI: Biswanath Regional Small Tea Growers' Association has alleged that the small tea growers have been deprived of the actual price of green tea leaves since June this year. The president and the secretary of the association alleged in a press release that green leaf production was low in May and hence its price reached up to Rs 37 per kg but the price continued to fall as the production increased in June.

The price of green leaf came down drastically to Rs 17 in July. The association said that the price was unanimously fixed at Rs 28.72 in the Tea Monitoring Board meeting held in June, but the bought-leaf factories allegedly cut down the price of green leaves one-sidedly. The association alleged that no effective measures had been taken till date to address the problem for which the small tea cultivators were in a pathetic condition.

Association president Rajiv Saikia and secretary Bharat Kalita said that small tea growers would stop plucking tea leaves indefinitely if measures were not taken in this regard soon. More than 30,000 people are involved in small tea cultivation in Biswanath district.

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