Small tea growers seek halt to green leaf supply from Arunachal Pradesh

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The supply of substandard green leaf from Arunachal Pradesh to bought-leaf factories (BLFs) in Tinsukia district is posing a threat to small tea growers in this Upper Assam district. The Tinsukia District Small Tea Growers Association has now sought the intervention of the Assam government to stop the supply of green leaf from the neighbouring state, which is manufactured as made tea and branded as Assam Tea.

Talking to The Sentinel, secretary of the Tinsukia District Small Tea Growers Association, Ajit Gogoi, said, “Some bought leaf factories are taking advantage of the proximity of the Arunachal border to Tinsukia and are sourcing green leaf from there to produce made tea. However, the quality of green leaf from Arunachal is not up to the mark, and the green leaf is bought at a lesser price. Since they get green leaf at a lesser price from the neighbouring state, the BLFs don’t want to pay even the minimum benchmark price (MBP) for green leaf produced locally. For example, the MBP for Tinsukia district was Rs 21.02 per kg of green leaf in August. But the BLFs pay between Rs 11 and 14 to the local small tea growers. Again, the MBP was Rs 19.85 per kg for the month of September, but the BLFs paid a maximum of Rs 14 per kg. This price does not even cover the costs of local tea growers. So, we demand the intervention of the Assam government to stop the inflow of such substandard green leaf from Arunachal.”

He further said, “When tea is manufactured from low-quality green leaf, the standard of made tea also falls. But the tea manufactured from Arunachal green leaf by BLFs here is branded as Assam Tea, and this is the cause of utmost concern. This aspect should be looked into both by the Assam government and the Tea Board. We also seek their intervention for ensuring the payment of MBP to local growers.”

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