Tea Board engages agency to carry out study on industry

MP | 25 May 2017 | Kolkata : The Tea Board India on Thursday said it has decided to engage a professional agency to carry out a comprehensive study on the status of tea industry after share of organised sector declined to 66 percent of country's tea production. "It has been decided by the Tea Board to carry out a comprehensive study through a professional agency and publish a paper on tea industry covering several parameters..." the board said in a statement.

The board said almost 94 per cent of tea was produced by organised sector in the beginning of 1990s, which recently declined to 66 percent.

Poor yield, ageing bush profile, decline in quality, lack of developmental activities, poor management practices are the major reasons for the decline, it said. The study will cover parameters like cost of production, profitability, economic viability, comparative study of wages and productivity of workers, the impact of increase of wages and inflation on inputs on profitability, status of compliance of PLA Act 1951 and statutory obligations like provident fund, gratuity, wages and bonus. It will also evaluate causes of migration of workers from tea gardens to other sectors, structure and organisational set up of tea estates under various forms of ownership. The study is expected to suggest ways to maintain a balance in rising cost of tea production, assessment of impact of Tea Board Human Resource Development Scheme on workers and their wards/dependents.

"The study would help to bring out the overall status of the tea industry and act as tool to formulate future policy decision for ensuring sustainability," it added. The study will also look into the socio-economic conditions of tea plantation labourers and evaluate the human resource development issues of plantation labour. It shall also assess the burden on tea garden owners, the social cost of escalating labour wages, the rising cost of tea production. However, no deadline has been specified for the completion of the study.