Tea price plea to board

AVIJIT SINHA, TT, Siliguri: Small tea growers in Jalpaiguri have said the Tea Board is not taking steps to ensure that bought-leaf factories (BLFs) pay the minimum benchmark price (MBP).

Every month, the tea board fixed the MBP of tealeaves for each tea producing district of the country, including those in north Bengal. The price is fixed on the basis of the auction prices of teas produced and sold by BLFs in the previous month.

"For September this year, the MBP of green tea leaves in Jalpaiguri district has been fixed at Rs 13.65 per kilo. However, in these days, most of the BLFs are paying us Rs 9 to Rs 10 per kilo.

"It is surprising that officials of the tea board re sitting idle and not taking any initiative to stop this practice while we suffer losses," said Bijoygopal Chakraborty, general secretary, Jalpaiguri District Small Tea Growers Association.

According to him, over the principal reasons for fixation of MBP is to ensure that the growers get at least a basic price of their produce which can cover their costs.

"Tea leaves are perishable and a section of growers are forced to sell it at lower prices offered by some BLFs. But the board should intervene and see that they are at least paid the MBP. There is also a green leaf price monitoring committee in each district to look into the issue but we hardly find any presence of such committee in Jalpaiguri," added Chakraborty.

In north Bengal, there are over 40,000 small tea growers. round 55 per cent of teas produced in north Bengal -- the total production was around 396 million kilos in 2018 -- come from the small tea sector.

Also, over 50,000 people work in the small tea plantations, along with the growers. "If the growers do not get proper prices of the tealeaves, it would raise questions over sustenance and can affect the earnings of workers. The tea board should take up the issue with priority.

"There had been a similar situation on last month and we were assured by the board that on September, we will get appropriate prices. However, situation continues to be same. If the situation persists, we will be forced to launch an agitation," said a tea grower in Rajganj