Sharp decline in green leaf prices brewing unrest among small tea growers of upper Assam

GUWAHATI: Unrest is prevailing in tea producing areas of Upper Assam following sharp decline in the prices of green tea leaf. Small tea growers on Friday stopped plucking of green tea leaf in Dibrugarh district as a mark of protest. The prices of green tea in some areas have plummeted to Rs 6 per kg from Rs 17.50.

The growers have announced that it will not pluck tea leaf in Tinsukia district on Monday and will resort to road blockade in four places.

All Assam Small Tea Growers' Association ( AASTGA) president, Ashwini Baruah told ET, "Growers are not getting the bench mark prices as fixed according to Tea Marketing Control Order (TMCO) 2003."

He added that an inquiry is ordered in Dibrugarh by government to ascertain the cause of the price fiasco. Sources in industry said that that generally the problem of surplus production props up in October-November. "During this period there is huge inflow of tea leaf and bought leaf factories and estate factories are flooded with leafs, so prices fall sharply."

In 2011, several kilograms of green leaf were destroyed by tea growers across Assam as a mark of protest. Assam has an over one lakh small tea grower who contributes about 30 per cent of tea production in the state. Assam roughly produced 550 million kgs of tea.