Assam Tea Policy will be engine for growth of tea industry: Indian Tea Association

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: Suneel Singh Sikand, Vice Chairman of the Indian Tea Association (ITA), stressed that the promotion of tea as a health beverage has to be intensified.

Sikand said this during his speech at the 133rd Annual General Meeting of Assam Branch ITA at Dibrugarh today, adding, "A large generic campaign is vitally required to strengthen the demand side, which holds the key to ensuring remunerative realization for the tea producers as well as for the trade. I am happy to note that the Ministry has enhanced fund allocation for promotion of tea to Rs 72.42 crore."

He further said, "In the common interest of the tea industry and the trade, all segments must participate in generic promotion campaigns. The Tea Board's recent initiative to organize a B2C (business-to-consumer) campaign in the first week of March in Varanasi as a part of the celebration of 200 years of the Assam Tea industry, is commendable. The industry awaits its announcement with the expectation that the policy will be the engine for the growth of the tea industry and the consolidation going forward. The tea industry is confronted with formidable challenges that call for the joint efforts of all stakeholders to overcome them."

"I welcome the initiative of the Assam government to formulate the Assam Tea Policy, which has enabling provisions for the promotion of Assam teas. I also express my gratitude to the Assam government for its initiatives from time to time in extending welfare schemes to the tea garden population," he added.

"The prohibitive cost on account of foodgrains being incurred by the industry is a serious challenge to the industry's viability. Unless the high foodgrain cost is mitigated, the industry cannot operate viably amidst surging input and wage costs. This matter needs the government's intervention with utmost priority," he also said.

Sailendra Kumar Goswami, the chairman of the Assam Branch of ITA (ABITA), said that the year 2023 was an extremely challenging one for the tea industry, which witnessed a downward spiralling of tea prices in the auctions and a higher cost of production. The input cost has been increasing over the years, and in addition, wages and other attributing factors of employment related to wages are on the rise, which has been affecting the financial liability of the industry, he pointed out.

Goswami also said, "The export of tea from Assam has a huge potential to handhold the industry to overcome the present difficult situation to a considerable extent. The association would urge upon the government to consider initiating appropriate measures to defray the high freight and handling costs to make tea exports from ICD Amingaon more attractive for the producers."

He thanked the Assam government for considering the submission of the association and allowing utilization of 5% of the grant area for various purposes such as tea tourism, cultivation of various agricultural crops, animal husbandry and fisheries, green power generation, and non-conventional energy generation. "This will surely benefit all stakeholders," he added.

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