Small tea growers voice concern over 'poor' quality teas flooding market

Kolkata: The Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers' Associations (CISTA), a body of small tea growers, has voiced concern over the alleged poor quality of teas flooding the market and urged the intervention of the Tea Board in this regard.

In a letter written to Tea Board chairman A S Bhatia, CISTA president Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty said that a generic campaign focussed on the health benefits of drinking tea should be carried out to promote consumption among the young people who are more enticed to partake in soft drinks and coffee.

"We have observed that bad quality teas are flooded in the domestic market and these were being sold at a very low price. Poor quality tea manufacturing and packaging should be stopped immediately", the association said in the letter.

CISTA said that the commerce ministry has enhanced the budget for a generic campaign of tea which is the need of the hour.

"Young people in the age group of 18 years to 22 years are far away from tea drinking and have more affinity for soft drinks and coffee. A focussed generic campaign highlighting the health benefits of tea drinking is needed to increase per capita domestic consumption of the beverage", the letter said.

The association, in another letter to the Tea Board chairman, said that as the price of the green leaf has almost stagnated for the last seven years and the cost of production rising, there is a need for a minimum support price or fair price of the same.

"If there is no such mechanism for arriving at a remunerative price of green leaf, then the small tea growers would not be able to sustain themselves", CISTA said.

Small tea growers contribute to more than 50 per cent of total production in the country.