BOOSTING TEA QUALITY
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The Assam Small Tea Growers' Association (ASTGA) and the All Assam Bought Tea Leaf Manufacturing Association (AABTLMA) have joined hands to conduct workshops to raise the quality of 'Assam Tea'.
Of late, gossip goes in various tea forums regarding the fall in the quality of 'Assam Tea'. The green leaves of the small tea growers produce 52 per cent of the total tea produced in the state. The small tea gardens provide job opportunities to around 15 lakh people in the state, directly or indirectly.
Tender tea leaves – eti koli duti paat (a bud with two leaves) – give quality tea. However, due to ignorance, a section of small tea growers plucks leaves that lower the tea quality. It leads them to get prices less.
In November last year, the two associations decided to hold workshops to train small tea growers on the plucking of tea leaves in the lean season – December to March. The peak season starts in April.
Talking to The Sentinel, ASTGA general secretary Karuna Mahanta, who is also vice president of the All India small growers' body, said, "The bought tea leaf manufacturers have extended a helping hand to train small tea growers through workshops. We are holding workshops district wise. Our motto is to produce the best quality tea to make the 'Assam Tea' get its respectable position in the international market. It will ensure remunerative prices for the small tea growers as well."
Mahanta also appealed to the State government and the Tea Board of India to provide training to the small tea growers of the state. Minister Keshab Mahanta, who was present in such a workshop recently, assured the small tea growers of taking up the matter of their training and the prices of green leaves with the department concerned.
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