Agartala: Tea production in the organised sector in declining in India due to ageing bushes and little investment and the country may have lost 50 million kg of tea in the past 10 years.
At the same time it is rising in small holdings which account for nearly 28 percent of the total tea cultivation area and 26 percent of the country’s total production.
According to Saini, 1,686 big gardens (organised sector) produce 723 million kg (from 416,027 hectares) of tea yearly, accounting for more than 74 percent of the country’s total production.
The concentration of small tea growers is largest in Assam, followed by West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Bihar.
Saini said that domestic consumption of the beverage is rising although the per capita consumption in India is less than in other countries.
He was here for the setting up of a tea board office in Agartala. Tripura Industries and Commerce Minister Jitendra Choudhury Monday laid the foundation stone of the office, to be built at a cost of Rs.2.07 crore.
Tripura Industrial Development Corporation chairman Pabitra Kar said tea cultivation through small tea gardens started in the state in 1994.
Tea plantations in Tripura dates back to 1895. In fact, Tripura is categorised as a traditional tea-growing state, with about 58 organised tea estates producing about nine million kg of tea every year.
Kar, a former minister, said that with over 10,000 hectares under cultivation, Tripura accounts for six percent of total tea area in India and four percent of total production. (IANS)
