INTRODUCTION:

Tea, the “Queen of beverages” is the most widely consumed non-alcoholic drink next to water (https://www.teausa.com/teausa/images/Tea_Fact_Sheet_2019__2020._PCI_update_3.12.2020.pdf). This beverage is popular for its distinctive taste, color and aroma along with its medicinal properties. Bicentenary old Indian tea industry is an agrobased profitable industry, providing employment to more than 2.5 million citizens contributing a share in national income (Mitra, 2010). India with a wide variety of tea holds second position in terms of production (1,339.70 million Kgsin 2019) (https://www.ibef.org/exports/indian-tea-industry).InIndia, tea is largely produced in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In northern West Bengal, the prime tea producing districts are Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar. Darjeeling is famous for orthodox tea with muscatel flavour while CTC tea of sub-Himalayan plains (Terai and Dooars) have strong liquor color.

Indian tea plantations were usually large holdings possessing hundreds of hectares of land under plantation. Presently large holdings and small tea growers (possessing plantation area below 25 acres) are involved in tea cultivation. Though tea cultivation in small holdings of land in southern were initiated around 1960 but presently they have spread over all the corners of tea producing region of India and have almost equal contribution in the quantity of manufactured tea. The large and small tea plantations In India, large holdings have tea plantations as well as own tea manufacturing units while small tea growers sell their fresh leaf harvest to bought leaf factories as they do not own manufacturing units (Hannan, 2006). The emergence of small tea growers in India has changed the socio-economic structure of the villages by playing a vital role not only in self-employment but also in employment generation (http://teaworld.kkhsou.in/page-details.php?name=Small-Tea-Growers-in-other-states-of India&page=fca44bfc443de853204d6fe2a).

Indian tea is among the finest tea in the world. It has strong geographical indications, heavy investment in processing units and strategic market share. Around 1.10 million metric tons of tea was gobbled up by the domestic consumers in 2020 (https://www.expertmarketresearch.com/reports/indian-tea-market). Indian Tea Industry had 1585 registered tea gardens in 2019 (https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1578137). Percentage of Indian Tea in World Market is growing tremendously. According to IMARC group’s latest report, tea market is ready to grow by a whopping 2.07% [CAGR 2022-2025], as total revenue climbs up to US$ 15,988.0 m in 2022((https://www.imarcgroup.com/tea-market).

About 800small growers in Darjeeling district are registered with Tea Board of India (http://teaworld.kkhsou.in/page-details.php?name=Small-Tea-Growers-in-other-states-of-India&page=fca44bfc443de853204d6fe2a). Others are concentrated in district of Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar and Uttardinajpur (Chowdhury et al., 2016).But the small tea growers association and forums claims the number to exceed 50,000 in entire North Bengal [https://www.telegraphindia.com].

A massive transformation in the Indian tea industry was observed in the last few decades with emergence of small tea growers, establishment of bought leaf factories, shifting from inorganic to organic (Sharma and Thakur, 2016) methods of cultivation, competition from foreign markets and struggles due to old bushes and depleted soil nutrients. There are several reports on small tea growers of Assam, West Bengal and southern states of India, but most of them are restricted to the issues of social science. Therefore, a scientific approach in this major issue has been neglected. The present review highlights the importance of small tea growers in shaping rural economy of North Bengal, their cultural practices and challenges.

Who are small tea growers (STGs)?

Tea growers of West Bengal with plantation area less than 10.12 hectares or 25 acres can be enlisted as small tea growers (Reddy and Bhowmik, 1989). Whereas for Assam, tea growers with land holding below 4 hectares are considered as small tea growers (Neog, 2009).

A brief chronicle on small tea growers:

In India, the spark of tea cultivation in a planned and organized way was ignited by the Britisher’s. Tea cultivation on small land portion is owned by the farm or production unit which provides land, man power and other resources for a substantial income from it. Thismakes the STGs the owner as well as worker on lands. STGs are accountable for production of green leaves, while the manufacturing is handled by different personnel. The system of STGs is usually in fashion in major tea producing countries like China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia etc.The idea of STG came into existence in Kenya in 1950, for the purpose of export. Their expertise and subsequently success from it encouraged other underdeveloped countries to follow their system. This created a transition of production dependency from big plantation towards small holdings. Since then, most tea producing countries depend largely on STGs for meeting their target.

In India, tea plantation was successfully established in 16 states including Assam, West Bengal, TamilNadu and Kerala, which account for about 95 per cent of the country’s total tea production (Hazarika & Borah, 2013). Pre-independence tea production was quite colonial, devoid of engagement from native people. Local entrepreneurs took a portion of the responsibility on their shoulders to include the native ones in this business in 19^th century. Though most of it was pre-acquired by upper classes and local people never had much share in it. After positive feedback from the London Auction (1839), they started getting their own holdings, but due to lack of knowledge in tea farming, as well as loss of self-esteem of working as a labourer in their own land remained with them for more than 150 years. After India gained independence, the tea production was imposed with some regulations to control itsquantity and quality. The Tea Board of India was set up as a regulatory body to maintain output, quality and marketing of tea under the plantation and labour Act of India. Allowance for cultivation on virgin soil which is subject to completion of criteria like land ownership proof, size of farm land, tea cultivation sustainability of soil proof, financial soundness proof, etc. is granted by Tea Board of India. These regulations were a huge hindrance to the growth of TGs

(https://des.assam.gov.in/sites/default/files/swf_utility_folder/departments/ecostat_medhassu_in_oid_3/this_comm/tea_growers1.pdf).

In 1960, STGs emerged in south Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala. It was in 1980-1990 when they got established in North Indian states of Assam and West Bengal (Hannan, 2006). Bhowmik (1991) opine that the rise of STGs is attributed to the failure of tea industry to comply with the demands for expected growth targets, as well as the fall of international market, quality being one of the players.

Cultivation shift from pineapple, jute to small tea in north Bengal:

The small tea growers of North Bengal were conventionally engaged in cultivation of pineapple, paddy, potato, jute, seasonal vegetables etc. But they face serious problems due to scarcity of market, lack of genuine prices and high cultivation cost. These mounted huge financial pressure on them, exacerbated by money lenders and their ways of getting money. Finally, the distressed farmers, choose the alternative crop tea. Tea cultivation gave multiple benefits to marginal landholders including crop substitution, where they could grow another cash crop instead of a single crop and also give employment to manual workers. This made the villagers self-sufficient and also gave women employment opportunities because of their proficiency in picking, which helped them in maintaining financial stability in their families (Naha, 2018)

STGs growth in north Bengal:

Small growers are majorly dispersed throughout Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, Kishanganj, North Dinajpur, and at the foothills of the Darjeling Hills (Choudhury et al., 2019). Generally virgin lands or land which was formerly used for another crop production were converted to tea plantations by the small tea growers. The STGs are spread mainly over some blocks of Jalpaiguri (Sadar, Rajganj, Maynaguri, Malbazar and Mattelli), Darjeeling (Phansedewa and Naxulbari, Kharibari), Uttar Dinajpur, (Chopra, Islampur and Goalpokhar Cooch Behar (Mekhliganj) (Hannan, 2006).

In North Bengal the STGs have three major types of farms- the family farms, the owner supervisory farms and the staff supervisory farms. In the family farms the plantation is managed by the family members and hired labours. In owner supervisory farms, the plantation is taken care by owner, technical persons and hired labours (Roy, 2017); while the staff supervisory farms are totally managed by staffs. It has been seen that in North Bengal, most of the STGs are the owner supervisory based farms (Hannan, 2019). In a survey it was recorded that the holding size of STGs were variable with 46% of STGs have holding size less than <0.80 hectare, 28% in between 0.80-1.62 hectare and the rest above 1.62 hectare. According to reports from Tea Boards of India the production of tea by STGs of North Bengal increased from 6 MKgs in 2006 to 20.86MKgs in 2021. The maximum increase in was in production was in between 2009 (7MKgs) and 2019 (16.09 MKgs) (Baruah and Taparia, 2004).This sharp increase in production was mainly due to increase in area of plantation. The number of tea plantations under STGs increased from 2000 in 1996 to 40000 in 2016.The increase in production of green leaves encouraged the increase of Bought leaf factories. In 1996 only 10 BLFs were there in north Bengal that increased to 176 in 2016. Keeping pace with the increase in production the contribution of manufactured tea in market by STGs increased from 3% in 1996 to 52% in 2016 (Uttar Banga Sambad, August 23, 2017)

Workers and their status:

In north Bengal small growers are self-employed in 75% of cases, they are traditionally tea garden workers of the local area. Most of the workers are women which ensure their financial security (Mohan et al., 2014).In some cases, the STG provide the facilities like primary education for the children of the workers and fuel for cooking. The workers have right to form trade union. Identity cards for registered small growers are provided by Tea Board of India(https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/small-growers-edging-out-big-players-tea-body/article37022667.ece).

Association and confederations for small growers:

Multiple associations and groups are there to support and take care of small tea growers. A self-governed body of small tea growers known as CISTA (Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Association), situated in 4 states- West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, and Kerala. In North Bengal, eight associations (Jalpaiguri, Zilla khudro cha chasi samiti, Uttar Banga khudraprantikchasi samiti, Uttar Dinajpur small tea growers’ Welfare Association, Uttar Dinajpur small tea planters’ Association, Daspara Little Planters Association, Indian Tea Planters Association (New Graden Forum), Bihar small Tea Planters Association and The North Bengal Small Tea Planter’s Association) are present under a federation called United Forum of Small Tea Growers Associations (UFSTGA), the apex body of growers in West Bengal(Biswas et al., 2015 ). Besides this, Tea Board of India has introduced a group named, ‘SELF HELP GROUPS’ under 10^th plan program.

Problems of small tea growers:

Small tea growers faced immense problem during the COVID lockdown period. They faced an uphill battle after the wastage of 64 million kg of tea leaves, costing them a huge loss of Rs. 1598 crore due to imposition of lockdown since 25^th March, 2020.As the blow from lockdown was not enough, now the settlement of educated unemployed population as tea farmers has further worsened the situation for small tea growers, pushing them towards unemployment.

One of the root causes of every trouble faced by STGs is the meager fixed revenue they make out of their production, which itself is insufficient to meet their production cost and cost of their livelihoods, bringing more poverty and also severe debt trap(https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/assam-small-tea-growers-seek-help-to-overcome-lockdown-loss/article31582980.ecewww.thehindu.com). One of the noted issues among them is the NOC, which stands for “No Objection Certificate”. NOC is that boon which allows them to enjoy the perks of schemes launched by the state and the central Governments, but such is the irony of the fate, that out of the 50000 STGs in West Bengal who are responsible for approximately 62% of the tea produced in the state, only a few have received NOC issued by the state Government 20 years ago. Hence, a majority of STGs is devoid of the benefits they deserve (https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/small-tea-growers-in-north-bengal-seek-land-tag/cid/1800468).

As per the reported constraints and the crisis of small tea growers are:

1. Low price of green leaf: One of the most dominating troubles faced by STGs in Terai and Dooarsis the unfair price of the green leaves produced by them. Green leaves which require processing within 12 hours of plucking, leaves STGs with no processing units no option other than to sell the leaves to Big Tea Estates or BLFs, where STGs hold no power to decide the price of their green leaves (Chowdhury et al., 2016). The price of tea leaves is diminished by the lack of market information, poor storage facilities and transportation problems. Lack of bargaining strategies in STGs causes a very unstable and downward income trend, creating a lot of discontent with themselves. More or more, only up to 30% of STGs sell their green leaves through SHGs, while rest of them are bound to go to middlemen. But meanwhile, BLFs are a class apart and maintain a standard to be followed while purchasing tea leaves (Biswas, 2016).

2. Rising coal costs: Coal is a necessary input for the manufacture of tea in North Bengal, as this region lacks the supply of natural gas, which is abundant in the gardens of upper region of Assam. On 16^th May, 2022 Tea Association of India raised the issue of coal cost hike due to severe shortage which can hamper the plantation activities. This may even cause the gardens of North Bengal to face competitive drawbacks. (https://theprint.in/economy/tea-industry-worried-over-rising-coal-costs-tai/958140)

3. Lack of irrigation: One hectare of tea plantation requires about 10,000 litre of water every day, equivalent to 25mm rainfall (Barua, 2008). Pruning process which is done in December and January requires water. Unfortunately, this is generally a dry season for this region but fortunate enough to receive few showers of rainfall, which is beneficial for tea plantations. Mostly these showers are irregular, forcing STGs to create or establish an irrigation system in the foothills area of Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling and Dinajpore which not only consumes a lot of efforts, but also a lot of capital (Borah, 2016)

4. Pest problems: One of the worst situations in the life of any farmer or plantation dependent personnel is the attack of pest on his/her farm. Pest like Helopeltistheivora, Oligonychuscoffeae (Red spider mite), Buzurasuppresseria (Looper caterpillar), Empoasca flavescence (Jassid) etc. are well equipped to suck the life out of the tea plantations. Similar will be the effects if the plants are lacking the required nutrients responsible for keeping them healthy, and hence it’s vital for STGs to have ample scientific information and knowledge regarding pesticides and fertilizers to meet the production demand, which they obviously lack (Chowdhury et al., 2016).

5. Lack of trainings: Unawareness regarding pest control and fertilizers can be dangerous for the tea plantation, but an extra pressure is imposed by the fact that tea is a perennial crop, and it requires plucking throughout the year. Thus, it becomes, mandatory for STGs to train regarding not only pest control and fertilizers but also scientific ways of pruning, water requirements, plucking, bush management, leaf procurement, proper shading etc. As of now, STGs clearly perform poorly in all these crucial departments, and it’ the whole and sole responsibility of the Tea Board of India to take initiative and train STGs in every such area crucial for effective tea production and management. For being a part of this training, the STGs must get themselves registered with the Tea Board of India. (Biswas, 2016).

6. Financial problems: Approaching banks for availing loan is still a taboo in the community of STGs. A very few in their population were brave enough to get out of this stigma and avail loans from banks, while the vast majority are still dependent on their own funds or their relative for funds (Singh et al., 2015). This bank stigma takes birth because of the premonition of wastage of time in paperwork’s required for taking loans from banks, while many farmers not having “Patta Land” is also a very dominating reason for such stigma. The STGs sector has rather adopted a decelerating approach in its growth as there is limited availability of suitable land. The need for rejuvenation of land may arise in 5-6 years while lack of loan facility leaves the future of such plantations in dark which are 8–10-year-old (Borah, 2016).

7. Unregulated growth of small tea growers: Whenever supply is greater than demand, then it automatically causes the price of the commodity to go down. This same effect has been observed in tea gardens of Terai and Dooars where many STGs started cultivating tea leaves without going through the market and economic land holding, thus causing instability in the price of tea and hence hindered the growth and development of the region (Chawdhury et al., 2016).

8. Emergence of global plantation company: STGs which are already the ‘small fishes’ in the tea sector not only face competition among themselves, but also against the alligators or global plantation companies which are well equipped with latest technologies and scientific knowledge for mass production, thus enabling them to control the market and further push STGs to even more weakened state (Chawdhury et al., 2016).

9. Marketing problem: Getting reasonable price for tea leaves is one of the most herculean tasks for STGs, and that too in the time when high competition is causing the price to fluctuate at an alarming rate. Mostly, due to unavailability of tea processing factories and government support, STGs are bound to sell their tea leaves to nearby big gardens or bought factories for meagre amount of Rs. 15- 17 per kg whereas their production cost is about up to Rs. 19 per kg (https://www.deccanherald.com/national/low-green-leaf-price-hits-small-tea-growers-in-assam-west-bengal-1013132.html).Hence, it’s safe to say that competitiveness and lack of market resources are also dominating reasons of the difficulties faced by STGs (Borah, 2016).

10. Recognition from government: Many a times, there are schemes launched by the West Bengal Government, for the welfare of STGs, but to be on the receiving end of those benefits, the STGs must be registered with the Tea Board of India, and for that, they must produce a “No Objection Certificate” or “NOC”, which according to West Bengal Governments mandates, can be only given to those who are STGs since 30^th June 2001. Unfortunately, the STGs who got into this plantation business more than around 1lakh after this date were devoid of every scheme which a NOC holder enjoys, including bank loan. As per West Bengal Government officials, it’s the government’s request to Tea Board of India, to not recognize any STG who does not hold NOC, as land comes under government’s jurisdiction (https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/small-tea-growers-in-north-bengal-seek-land-tag/cid/1800468). Also, this NOC system has still not been introduced in other tea producing states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Though quite dire the situation is for such non- NOC holders, one optimistic solution found out by many STGs was to make ‘SELF HELP GROUPS’ with minimum 50 members, which are registered under West Bengal Societies Registration Act. These SHGs are well recognized by Tea Board of India, and thus are eligible to avail benefits similar to NOC holders, but as a single entity (Borah, 2016).

11. Gap of collaborative research: Tea production is a field with a huge scope in Research and Development, and such research and development will directly benefit the pockets of STGs indiscriminately, as it will improve both the quantity as well as quality of the final product. But lacks of such collaborative researches are one of the silent and less talked about reasons of the static in the growth and prosperity of STGs in West Bengal. Moreover, till date, no collaborative research work has been conducted on any aspects to solve the problems of small tea growers of West Bengal.(Chowdhury et al., 2016)

12. Demand and supply of efficient labour: small tea gardens are generally not covered in the Plantation Labour Act due to their size, hence such small gardens are unable to provide the perks which their counterpart i.e., large tea gardens provide to their employees. Land of small dimensions up to 2 acres can be run efficiently by just family members, but large landholdings require a good number of employees to run the business. Mostly former garden workers and daily wage labourers are employed in such large tea plantation. Things never go as smoothly as they look, and the same has been proven in an interview that absenteeism gets prominent in festivals like Durga puja and Holi and diwali. In the period of these festivals, workers take holidays, causing shortage of labour and subsequently, wastage of leaves. Similarly, the crisis, of labours is also created by other growing tea-estates as well (Arya, 2015). To counter this problem, tea-estates are coming up with innovative ideas of giving bonuses, incentives and rewards in one form or another to their employees to keep them attracted to their workplace during festivals and ensure smooth operation (Borah, 2016).

13. Technological: In the latest events, the world observed that many countries rejected or banned tea exports from India on accounts of high concentration of chemical fertilizers and pesticides (https://hindustantimes.com/india-news/high-in-pesticides-many-countries-send-back-indian-tea-101654255985929). Hence, one thing is evident that one of the pillars of Indian tea industry, i.e., STGs lack technical knowledge and skills required for a World class produce. Tea being perennial, yet being plucked throughout the year, and also involving tricky stages like plucking, pruning, irrigation, shading and judicious use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides makes it mandatory for the STGs to have good hold on technical knowledge, as well as skills. Training initiatives from Tea Board of India becomes inevitable in such dire situations, as without training, the production, quality management, production cost and profit margin will cease to exist. Lack of training will cause a serious crisis for STGs in two to three years. Researches should be conducted and region wise guidelines should be published, and the STGs of their respective regions should be trained accordingly (Biswas, 2016). Apart from the areas mentioned above, where STGs need to be trained, it was found that STGs are unskilled in other crucial areas like pest management, application of manure, drainage etc. Moreover, a strong emphasis to region wise training programs should be given by Tea Board of India, Tea Research Authorities, Corporate Tea Producers and Government as well, because tea plays a significant role in the GDP of the country (Borah, 2016).

14. Climate change problem: Climate issues are those types of problems, which are being faced by every being on the planet. STGs being no exception, instead they are facing the utmost effect of climate change. Problems like crop losses, new pest attacks and loss of production are prominent due to drastic changes in climate. To tackle the same issue, NABARD and the Central Government have joined hands to grant the Tea Board of India an amount of 125 crore INR in the name of Climate Change Adaptation fund, so as to help over 50,000 STGs across 5 states in India in a time period of 4 years (https://www.worldteanews.com/insights/tea-board-india-brings-climate-change-fund-small-tea-growers).

15. Issue of Exporting tea from North Bengal:

The production of tea by North Bengal small tea growers is picking up pace. A lot of opportunity is sought by the tea exported from these STGs in export market, as the tea made by them is of high quality, as well as less costly. Many of these individual producers are making hand-made or machine-made exotic high value organic tea through unconventional means. If a way is invented to put this high value tea in export market, then it will prove to be milestone in the history of STG as opined by CISTA. This brings into consideration the fact that the tea from North Bengal needs to be exported, but the amount exported from here being a meager four million kilogram, brings a need for a mechanism to export more tea and increase this number (https://m.economictimes.com/industry/cons-products/fmcg/tea-industry-facing-multiple-challenges-in-wake-of-covid-pandemic-experts/articleshow/96684197.cms).

Self-help groups- reason and function of this group:

Requirement of debt for farming activities and that requirement being fulfilled by non-institutional lenders on high interest rates pushing poor farmers into unavoidable debt trap has been a huge problem for them since time immemorial. But in case, of small tea growers (STGs) this problem got aggravated further as the Tea Board of India realized later about the huge contribution of STGs to Tea Sector in India. But awareness would not do much help to STGs. Formation of ‘SELF HELP’ groups (SHGs) was the key to this problem. To protect STGs from non-institutional lenders, Tea Board of India under the tenth plan program (2002-2007) introduced SHGs under the guidelines laid down by it.

Some of the prevailing SHGs registered with the Tea Board of India in North Bengal region are Panbari STGs society at Panbari, Mainaguri block, Jalpaiguri (North Bengal’s first SHG and successfully running since two years),Jai Jalpesh STG, Khoribari, Premchand Gach, Shiv Shakti, Radha Govindo, Jagat Gaon, Shabtiguri, Ma Laxmi, Laxmi dangee, Naxalbari, Mahamilan (Choudhury et al., 2019). The main catalysts in the form of non-institutional lenders because of whom SHGs came into existence were “leaf agents” who played major role in tea trading. Being the mediator between STGs and tea market, they provided loans to STGs on highest interest rate, pushing them towards Debt-trap and exploiting them ruthlessly. They provided STGs with transportation facility for mobilization of tea leaves to factories which STGs were unable to do for themselves. To overcome such situations, STGs joined hands to free themselves from clutches of leaf traders also known as ‘Farias’(Hannan, 2006)

Every coin has two sides, SHGs being no exception. With the positives of being self-dependent, SHGs also bring in some of their weaknesses which includes: quality of tea leaves, loyalty& mutual trust, profit motive of individual, no manufacturing unit, negative approach of BLFs(https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/small-growers-edging-out-big-players-tea-body/article37022667.ece). Also Tea Board helping small growers to make a self-reliant group named Farmers Producers Organization (FPO), which will be profitable for them (https://www.uttarbangasambad.com/tea-board-is-training-tea-farmers-to-improve-their-skills/).

Future prospect of small tea growers:

The Indian Tea industry is going through a transition which has never been seen before since the beginning of tea production in 1834. Small tea growers going to have the lead of tea industry in coming days so, a number of new windows are going to open for them and soon they will be paving the way for entrepreneurship as well as a number of scopes are going to be available for them and for the society. Tea cultivation in North Bengal has immense potential for both employment as well as income generation. It can be a profitable business venture and can play an important role in improving socioeconomic condition to the rural people of North Bengal (Chawdhury et al., 2016). Some future prospects are discussed below:

Employment to the rural people: small tea cultivation provides an ample opportunity for self-employment of the rural educated unemployed youths (Baruah, 2008). The cultivation itself creates many employment opportunities in the field of manufacturing, supply of garden equipment, people for pruning, plucking and for transportation of green leaf etc. (Nidhi, 2014; Chawdhury et al., 2016).

Scope for entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurs are economic agents who are really crucial for developing the economy of a country. They establish and run small businesses or manufacturing units, and are the backbones of economy in a developing country like India. Entrepreneurship is a boon for the educated and unemployed youth of the country. With less competition and low restrictions on trade, it not only looks like a good option but also one of the ways to eradicate poverty, illiteracy, poor health, etc, which are quite prevalent in Northern part of Bay of Bengal (Dwivedy, 2012; Akoijam, 2017). Hence, small form of tea cultivation becomes a necessity to survive under such problems (Bhowmik, 1991). The fire of small tea cultivation was sparked by a group of local youth in 1970 (Goswami, 2006). This also motivated other people to participate in small scale tea production, fight the instability in the economy and set themselves as one of the foundation stones of the Indian economy. A majority of the small tea plantations in these regions belongs to those farmers who formerly grew pineapple, paddy, potato, etc. These farmers, being well versed with the micro ecological and environmental conditions of their soil, were ideal for experiments like small scale tea production. Providing knowledge and employment to the unemployed manual workers, they are not only doing well for the society, but are also making their villages self-sufficient. Evidences of mixed farming have also been collected from low lying areas, where some small tea growers practice paddy cultivation as well (Naha Das, 2018).

Source of income generation: Small tea cultivation has appeared as a boon for rural educated and unemployed youths besides engaging family labors. Ample employment opportunities (Sharma and Choubey, 2017) like manufacturing, supply of garden implements, transportation of green leaves, outlets of chemicals, manures etc are created. Now unemployment of the rural area is rare due to small tea cultivation. Generally, atleast 3-4 people are self-employed while 4-5 are employed by the grower in their garden in this region (Baruah, 2011).

Utilization of unused land: Most of the land of STGs may be considered as second grade land for growing tea. Some of them grow tea in ceiling surplus land, waste land (Pandey and Dwivedi, 2016) gazing land or government vested lands which were either underutilized or unutilized (Chawdhury et al., 2016).

More establishment of bought leaf factory by small tea growers: To tide over pricing troubles, some groups decided to set up factories with financial aid from the Tea Board. The Jai Jalpesh primary producer society set up a tea processing factory run by cultivators in Bhotepatty, 2012. From 300 members initially, the Jai Jalpesh group now boasts over 500 and employs staffs including manager and supervisors to oversee the operations (https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/know/small-farmers-perk-up-the-dooars-tea-economy/article9722911.ece).

CONCLUSION:

Present study showing, in tea industry “Small” is now the opposite of its meaning as this industry is currently dominated by STGs. Tea being one of the widely consumed beverages brings profit and play as a hub for employment in India. Small tea growers are one of the vital players of overall country’s economic health. After Assam, North Bengal has the second largest number of small tea growers in India. There is a constant conflict between quantity and quality among STGs. As they lack proper guidance, “mass” became the primary goal and quality endured second. Recently, India has faced several constraints in exporting tea due to presence of pesticide and chemicals beyond permissible limits. This problem is not new but who will bell the cat! No one is ready to compromise with production and as a result this problem exists. Good practices, maintaining all the rules given by tea board can assure to bring back the glory of Indian tea in international market resulting better economic returns.

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Received on 27.03.2023 Modified on 04.07.2023

Research J. Science and Tech. 2024; 16(1):59-67.

DOI: 10.52711/2349-2988.2024.00010