Jairam promises help to tea growers in Arunachal Pradesh

GUWAHATI: Union Minister for Commerce Jairam Ramesh assured Arunachal Pradesh of assistance in marketing and increasing the productivity of organic tea grown in the state. He felt the Assam government was going slow on the issue of allotment of land pattas (land rights) to small tea growers and should be more aggressive.

Mr Ramesh said: “There are 42,000 small tea growers in Assam and they account for 50% of Assam’s total production. They are going to be a dominant force in future and the government should be more aggressive in its attitude.”

He pointed out the example of producing countries like Kenya, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, where small growers have taken over.

Assam had earlier announced that small growers would be given documents of land so they could approach either the Tea Board or banks for financial help.

“Without the requisite documents for their land, growers cannot approach banks or avail of other financial assistance,” he said.

Mr Ramesh added that IITs at Guwahati and Kharagpur were working on proposals to develop machinery exclusively to be used by small growers.

Meanwhile, the minister said he would ask the Tea Board to assist Arunachal Pradesh in increasing productivity.