• India Tea News: State Budgets Include Tea Worker Housing Funds | Iran Remains a Lost Market for Indian Tea | New Study Reveals New Traits in the Assamica Plant

    By Aravinda Anantharaman | Managing Editor

    India Tea News for the week ending Feb 24, 2024
    India Tea News | Aravinda Anantharaman
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    Budget allocates financing for worker houses
    Assam budget allocates financing for tea worker housing

    Budget Season and Aid for Tea

    As State Governments announce their budget for the upcoming financial year, the tea industry has been waiting for news on its impact. So far, the Tamil Nadu government has announced an incentive of Rs 2 per kilo to members of the state-owned INDCO cooperative in the Nilgiris. This benefits about 27,000 small tea farmers attached to the INDCO factories. In Assam, 130,000 houses were to be constructed as per last year’s budget. This year, 10% of the houses are earmarked for tea garden workers. Additionally, funds will be earmarked towards payments of electricity bills in arrears in the tea communities. In West Bengal, the finance minister said 2,500 acres of unused land in tea gardens had been recovered and land rights granted to 23,000 workers in the Dooars. The housing scheme here continued to be in focus, as land rights and funds for house construction were included. Five tourism projects on four tea estates in the region have also been approved.

    Iran Turns to Sri Lanka for Tea

    The Hindu Businessline reported that a barter agreement between Iran and Sri Lanka will mean India will continue to lose in this market. In 2023, India’s tea shipment to Iran decreased from 54.45 mn kilos (2019) to 6 million (2023). Iran and Sri Lanka have entered a barter to settle the latter’s oil debt of $250 million for fuel purchases made in 2012. According to the agreement, Sri Lanka will supply tea worth $5 million monthly for 48 months, ending in September 2027.

    Study on Assam Tea

    A study published in the Journal of Plant Beverage Research reveals new Camellia sinensis assamica varietal traits. Researchers from India and China who have worked on this study using 150 SNP markers and population genetics tools to conclude that Assam tea is unique. Researchers identified five distinct genetic populations independently domesticated from a western cluster of wild tea trees rather than introduced from a single origin. The varietal grown in Assam differs from the eastern cluster grown in Yunnan. This new understanding presents new possibilities for cultivating new hybrids bred from Assam tea.

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  • India Tea News: Nilgiris Small Farmers Seek Government Corpus | Assam’s Kaziranga Park Offers Tea Tourism Option | North Bengal Tea Worker Allegedly Starves to Death

    By Aravinda Anantharaman | Managing Editor

    India Tea News for the week ending Feb 16, 2024
    India Tea News | Aravinda Anantharaman
    • Jungle waterfalls at Kaziranga World Heritage Park
      Jungle waterfalls

    Assam’s Kaziranga Park Offers Tea Tourism Option

    Kaziranga National Park in Assam is set to offer visitors an immersive tea experience to guests. The Park saw 326,000 visitors in 2023 and is a popular destination in the northeast, especially as home to the largest one-horned rhinoceros population. The park is surrounded by tea gardens and communities and has been steadily adding more activities, such as safaris and cycling, to its offerings. With this new addition, they could well give tea a much-needed boost.

    See: Travel for Tea (Tea Journey Magazine)

    Save Small Tea Growers Forum Seeks Minimum Floor Price

    In the Nilgiris, the Save Small Tea Growers forum representing 65,000 small grower families has asked for the minimum price of green leaf to be set to Rs 35/ kilo. Current prices hover at Rs 15/ kilo, with the cost of production at about Rs 25. Until the price is fixed, the forum has asked the government to create a corpus to ensure the farmers are paid a fair price.

    North Bengal Tea Worker Allegedly Dies of Starvation

    Down to Earth magazine reported that 58-year-old Dhani Oroan, who worked at Madhu Tea Garden, Alipurdar, passed away on 2nd February 2024. A fact-finding team visited his home the next day. As per their report, Oroan’s wife, whom they met, showed signs of extreme starvation. Neighbors confirmed that Dhani also had been malnourished. The report offers details of Oroan’s wife’s height, weight, and BMI, which are well below normal. Madhu Tea Garden was closed for seven years and reopened in December 2023. In this period, the Oroans had no access to supplies via the Public Distribution System because their papers needed to be digitized, and various government documents needed to be linked in the backend. The couple depended on neighbors for a meal a day. Oroan died of a seizure. He could not avail medical help as the garden hospital was not functional, and no one around could afford to transport him to the nearest hospital.

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      Nilgiris Small Farmers Seek Government Corpus | Assam’s Kaziranga Park Offers Tea Tourism Option | North Bengal Tea Worker Allegedly Starves to Death | Episode 155 | 16 Feb 2024

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  • India Tea News: UN Moves the Confederation of International Small Tea Holders HQ from China to India | Assam’s Barak Valley Presents 2023 Production Data

    By Aravinda Anantharaman | Managing Editor

    India Tea News for the week ending 9 Feb 2024
    Hear the Headlines | India Tea News Update
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    The gathering of members at the FAO IGG in Guwahati, Assam. Photo via TRA, India.

    Small Tea Growers Confederation HQ to Shift to India

    At the 25th session of the FAO Intergovernmental Group on Tea at Guwahati earlier this month, it was decided that the headquarters of the Confederation of International Small Tea Holders will shift from China to India for the next four years. CITS was formed at the 22nd session of the FAO IGG (at Nairobi) to support the small grower segment globally, especially in policies and solutions. Globally, small growers account for 70% of the area under tea cultivation and 60% of production. The working group on smallholders includes members from Indonesia, China, India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, and Malawi. Bringing CITS to India is expected to help mobilize global best practices for small tea growers in India.

    Barak Valley Posts 2023 Production Decline

    The Surma Valley Branch of the Indian Tea Association has posted 2023 data. Accordingly, Barak Valley saw a decline of 1.3mn kilos in 2023 compared to the previous year. Unfavorable weather was cited as the main reason. Auction prices, too, saw a drop of about 5% from the previous year. The Association also stated that despite a wage increase of 204% in the last decade, expectations were not met with production due to two reasons – migration of people who used to work in tea and the adoption of small-scale agriculture by tea pluckers. Neighboring Tripura state was also said to be facing a similar problem.

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  • India Tea News: Guwahati Hosts BATIC 2024 to Celebrate 200 Years of Assam Tea | Artisanal Assamese Tea Farmer Maddhurjya Gogoi Passes Away

    By Aravinda Anantharaman | Managing Editor

    India Tea News for the week ending 2nd Feb 2024
    India Tea News | Aravinda Anantharaman
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    BATIC 2024 | Assam Bi-Centenary Celebration

    Assam Celebrates 200 Years of Tea

    Ahead of the Intergovernmental Group on Tea’s meeting in Guwahati, Assam, the Tea Research Association hosted a 2-day Bicentenary Assam Tea International Conference as part of the bicentennial celebrations of the Assam tea industry. It took place on the 29th and 30th at the Radisson Blu, Guwahati, and saw close to 400 people from the industry, including guests from the global tea industry representing 25 countries, in attendance. While it was an event that brought people from the tea trade under one roof, there was also a series of discussions on current preoccupations in tea, including regenerative agriculture, marketing Indian tea, the small tea grower segment, and new technologies and innovations in tea. Keynote speakers were James Grayland of Wanlin Teahouse, Shanghai, and Nitin Saluja of Chaayos.

    In Memoriam: Maddhurjya Gogoi, tea farmer

    Tea Farmer Maddhurjya Gogoi,46, passed away suddenly on 31st January 2024 after suffering a cerebral stroke. Maddhurjya was a pioneer in the artisanal tea sector in Assam, running Assam Teehaus, a direct-to-market brand of craft tea. His teas have earned rave reviews across the world. Maddhurjya’s contribution to Assam tea is significant, as is his relentless pursuit of organic specialty tea making. Maddhurjya is survived by his mother and two young children.

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  • India Tea News: Commerce Minister Meets Tea Industry Stakeholders | Darjeeling Tea Harvest Down by 9% to 6.5 Million Kilos

    By Aravinda Anantharaman | Managing Editor

    India Tea News for the week ending Jan. 12, 2024
    India Tea News | Aravinda Anantharaman
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    Tea fields at Gopaldhara TE, Darjeeling, India
    Tea fields at Gopaldhara Tea Estate, Darjeeling, India

    Commerce Minister Meets Tea Industry Stakeholders

    Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal met tea industry representatives from Assam and West Bengal on Jan. 6, 2024. The industry sought financial support to tide over the crisis, particularly in wages to be paid during the winter months when gardens don’t see any production. The representation also sought a subsidy for orthodox tea production and greater testing of imported teas for food safety. They have asked for trade delegations to be sent to Iran and other countries to retain old markets and gain a foothold in potential ones. Key to the conversation was the need to resuscitate Darjeeling, which has seen low production, low prices, and an increasing number of gardens being sold due to this financial inviability.

    Darjeeling Tea Volumes Down by 9%

    In 2023, Darjeeling produced under 6.5 million kilos of tea, down 9% from 2022 and perhaps the lowest “normal year output” in the last 50 years! The reason is multifold – some ten gardens here closed last year, and climate change has also impacted the tea harvest. Despite low volumes, prices have not gone up. Average prices at auctions were INRs 315 per kilo, which is not representative of true prices as only about 1.5mn kilos were sold via auctions, with the bulk of tea sold privately. But it’s indicative of the crux of Darjeeling’s problem.

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