Small growers urge Tea Board to defer last date of plucking leaves in Bengal

Kolkata, Sep 2 (PTI) Small tea growers in West Bengal have urged the Tea Board to defer the last date of plucking green leaves this season to December due to a significant shortfall in production, an industry body said on Monday.

Tea Board had already issued an order stating that the last plucking date of green leaves for all manufacturing units situated in Dooars and Terai region of West Bengal is November 30.

Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Associations (CISTA) president Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty said small planters in north Bengal have witnessed a huge crop loss so far this year due to adverse weather conditions.

For the last few years, the Tea Board had been instructing the growers to cease plucking from the onset of winter till the advent of the first flush in the next season to ensure that the quality of green leaves does not suffer and also to handle the issue of oversupply.

In its latest production data in July 2024, the Tea Board said West Bengal produced 41.59 million kilograms as compared to 52.95 million kilograms in the year-ago month.

Production across India recorded 146.84 million kilograms in July, down from 171.53 million kilograms in the same month of 2023.

Chakraborty said most of the tea produced in West Bengal is in the lower elevation areas which were earlier used for paddy cultivation.

“Due to adverse weather conditions this year till June, small tea growers have been facing huge crop loss which resulted in poor revenue realisation,” he said.

CISTA president said small tea growers have “urged the Tea Board to fix the last date of plucking sometime in December as long as good quality green leaves are available in the gardens”.

In West Bengal, production of small growers declined to 25.86 million kilograms in July from 30.70 million kilograms in the year-ago month.