Assam Tea Business Face Problems of Low Production and Price Stagnation

GUWAHATI: The stagnation in tea prices, high production costs, and low productivity, according to Bharatiya Chah Parishad (BCP) chairman Nalin Khemani on Thursday, are the industry's three major challenges.

Khemani said, "If there is any solution to this challenge, it is to strengthen the industry's competitiveness in terms of productivity," during the BCP AGM in Dibrugarh.

"The marketing of tea must be accorded the utmost priority in the liberalized system of global trade. The tea business crisis has a severe detrimental effect on the families of tea plantation workers and everyone else connected to the sector, " added Khemani.

"The negative attention the Assam tea business has received in various articles is a problem that worries me. These stories gave a very negative impression of how the industry carried out its social obligations. Such writings must have a more comprehensive perspective of reality while expressing a viewpoint," he said.

"Given that wages account for more than 60% of a tea company's overall spending, this should be the industry's top priority moving forward. For this output to increase, we must provide our workers with the appropriate procedures, education, tools, and technology," according to the BCP Chairman.

"The Skill India movement was started by the Indian government to increase production," he stated. Replanting with new kinds, as well as mechanical and scientific harvesting, are necessary to boost productivity in plantations."

"60% of Assam's annual production is produced during the four months from July to September. The industry experiences a severe labor shortage during these four months, which causes the crop to be of poor quality. It is now necessary to introduce mechanized harvesting in order to increase the Assam Tea Industry's output, " added BCP Chairman.

Over a million workers and several lakh small tea growers in the state depend on the tea industry for their existence. "The tea industry has been the backbone of the rural economy in Assam for decades," he claimed.

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