Tea Growers Demand Sustainable Price: Industry Viability at Stake

Kolkata, Feb 14 (PTI) Tea growers across the country have advocated minimum sustainable price for their produce to secure viability of the industry which employs lakhs of people.

Indian Tea Association (ITA), in a statement, said both big and small producers have felt the need to arrive at a minimum sustainable price.

The association said that tea cultivation is primarily an agricultural operation and is subject to various challenges namely climate change.

ITA said that the industry is committed to promoting the production of the best quality teas, which are "compliant to all laid down norms".

The association said that price realisation needs to compensate for the cost of production to sustain quality and to allow for a reasonable margin.

According to the association, the tea growers should receive a realisation, which, at least 50 per cent of the cost of production, including capital costs.

The growers said that it is the need of the hour to evolve a mechanism so that the cost of production of the organised sector is taken as a benchmark in order to create remunerative margins for small growers.

ITA said that the small tea growers have been challenged by a lack of bargaining power and the current price-sharing formula is not compensating the cost of production.

The price-sharing formula for tea is a method to distribute the price between small tea growers and the factories which buy green leaves.