Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The price of green tea leaves has fallen drastically all of a sudden after the Durga Puja celebrations, leading to the agony of small tea growers in Upper Assam. The office of the District Commissioner of Jorhat called a meeting today in connection with the District Green Leaf Price Monitoring Committee, but most of the representatives of bought leaf factories and owners associations chose to remain absent.
Speaking to The Sentinel, Krishna Prasad Sarma, secretary of the Jorhat district committee of the All Assam Small Tea Growers’ Association, said, “Before the Durga Puja, the price of green leaf in Jorhat district was between Rs 30 and 40 per kg, as per quality. This price was almost okay, as we had conducted awareness drives among the small tea growers not to use any banned pesticides in the tea bushes. We had tried to make Jorhat a model district in implementing the non-use of banned pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Due to this initiative, most of the samples of green leaf tested in Jorhat district were found to be free of the banned chemicals. The bought leaf factories remained closed for five days during Durga Puja. Upon re-opening of the factories on October 14, there was a message from the bought leaf factories in the morning that the price of green leaf has been dropped even before checking the quality of the green leaf. From Monday onwards, until today, the price has been dropping every day. Today’s price was between Rs 20 and 25 per kg.”
Sarma further stated that a meeting was called today at 3 pm by the office of the District Commissioner of Jorhat regarding the price of green leaf. “It is unfortunate that except one person, no other representatives of either bought leaf factories or the owners association were present at the meeting. The meeting was chaired by the District Development Commissioner (DDC) of Jorhat. During the meeting, we placed our grievance regarding the fall in the price of green leaf after the Durga Puja. If this trend continues, the small tea growers will be demoralized as they have been trying, of late, to maintain a good quality of green leaf without the use of banned pesticides. As most of the expected participants of the meeting chose to remain absent, the meeting remained incomplete. The DDC assured us that another meeting regarding the matter will be held as early as possible. We also requested the DDC to extend invitations to the bought leaf factories individually for the next meeting,” Sarma added.
There are 26 bought leaf factories in Jorhat district and around 20,000 small tea growers supplying green leaf to these.
Almost 50% of the total tea production in the state comes from the small tea growers of the state.
Also Read: Assam: Small tea growers suffer after purchase of green leaf stops (sentinelassam.com)
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