Tea board brews mobile app for updates

AVIJIT SINHA, TT, 26 Oct 2018, Siliguri: The Tea Board of India has decided to launch a mobile app to help stakeholders and officials.

The aim is to disseminate information for the improvement of the industry, particularly the small tea sector that accounts for 50 per cent of the total production.

Likely to be named "Chai Sahay," the board has invited tenders to design the app. "As of now, there is no such platform through which information about such activities can be shared. Once introduced, the app would be of immense help for stakeholders of the industry, particularly the small tea growers, and also for our officers," said a source in tea board.

The activities include fixation of the minimum price for small tea growers, details of meetings of the committee that fixes the prices in districts, advisories, and schedule of trainings and workshops conducted by the board. These and some more information can be shared through the app.

As of now, there are four zonal offices of the board, under which 17 regional and 29 sub-regional offices function at tea-producing states of the country.

"For small growers, the existing database of small growers would be put into the app and in due course, information about new growers, once they are registered, will be added to it. There are plans to share notifications on daily weather conditions and issue general advisories on tea cultivation on a regular basis through the app so that individual growers can be benefited," the source said.

As of now, no such online assistance is available for the small tea growers, unlike tea estates, where planters get information and advisories from experts engaged by them.

The app would also have all relevant information about the Indian tea industry and which would help anybody associated with the sector, said sources.

The decision has been welcomed by small tea growers.

"We thank the tea board for this initiative. Small tea growers have access to smartphones in these days and the app would be of immense help for them.

Many growers have no inkling about weather or they need to make calls to know the minimum benchmark price of tea leaves for the current month in their districts. The app would resolve all these problems," said Bijoygopal Chakraborty, president, Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers' Associations.