Government to provide benefits to small tea growers: Nirmala Sitharaman

NEW DELHI: To encourage small tea growers and give them better price for their products, the government has proposed to amend a 2003 order to define mini and micro factories and provide various benefits to them.

Minister of State for Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman said in Lok Sabha that a proposal has been mooted to amend the Tea (Marketing) Control Order 2003 so as to define mini and micro factories and exempt them from obtaining no objection certificate for manufacturing tea.

Listing out various benefits and assistance being provided to the small tea growers, Sitharaman said during Question Hour that in order to ensure better price to small tea growers, who supply tea leaves to factories, price sharing formulas have been notified for different tea growing states.

Payment of green leaf to the growers is closely monitored by the district green leaf price monitoring committees, she said.

The Tea Development and Promotion Scheme implemented by the Tea Board has a separate component for development of small tea growers.

The scheme aims at addressing the special needs of small tea growers, particularly in the area of improving production and productivity and establishing processing factories with special focus on enhancing quality.

Financial assistance of around Rs 55.56 crore has so far been extended to the small tea growers in the XII plan, she said.