SHILLONG: The tea processing unit in Upper Shillong that was inaugurated last year has been started keeping in mind qualitative production and expanding niche tourism.
The unit, the first in Upper Shillong, started last December and was constructed at a cost of Rs 50 lakh, including the machines. Earlier, tea leaves from Upper Shillong were sent to Umsning for processing.
Officer on special duty, directorate of Food Processing, M Lyngdoh Suiam told The Shillong Times that the response to the tea tourism in Upper Shillong had been overwhelming but the lockdown has stalled all prospects.
Before the lockdown, tourists could visit the garden and observe how the leaves are processed in the unit against a nominal fee. They could even go for tea-tasting.
The Meg Tea garden in Upper Shillong producing Darjeeling variety is spread over 2.35 hectares and produces organic product. In charge of the tea plantation Kamal Prasad Bhattarai said no chemical is used in the process.
The planting season is from May-July and this year, plucking started on April 6.
Muster roll worker Pardingfull Marwein said the amount of tea leaves collected depends on the numbers of tender leaves in the tea garden. There are over 15 workers and each worker plucks 5 kg of leaves on an average.
Alebi Rynjah, a 19-year-old tea plucker, is a second-year student of Arts at Bormanik College. She comes to work after attending classes. “College starts at 7 am and when I am done, I come here. The work here starts from 8 am to 4 pm. Many a time, I miss my classes,” she said.
Marwein said the tea leaves go into the drying machine, roasting (for green tea) and rolling (two machines which are for green tea and black tea separately) before the fnal product is packaged.
The cost per 100 gm of black tea is Rs 250 and green tea is Rs 300. An outlet inside the garden sells the final product to visitors.
Lockdown blues
The ongoing lockdown has created multiple hurdles for tea production not only in Upper Shillong but also in other parts of the state. With no bio-pesticide supply since March, field workers are making their own pesticide using cow urine and dung, panchya gabya, jiva amrit and vermicompost.
Attendance of workers is also a problem. “Our workers come from 5th Mile, Mylliem and other adjacent areas. Some could not reach because of the lockdown,” said Bhattarai, but added that production would not be affected much as workers who stay near the garden come regularly.
Last year, total production of different varieties of tea in the state was — orthodox tea less than 10,000 kg, green tea around 13,000 kg, white tea around 17 kg, Oolong tea around 300 kg and CTC over 4.5 lakh kg.
“In view of the lockdown, the workers came to work after two weeks and within these weeks the weeds have overgrown. There is no time now so we have to pluck the tea leaves instead of removing the weeds,” said Marwein.
Sales at the retail outlet have also been affected.
When asked about salary, Marwein said it is regular. Suiam said the department follows the guidelines of the Labour Department and payment varies from skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers. For instance, skilled worker Rita Nongkhlaw, who has been working for nine years, gets around Rs 400 a day.
Creating brand
Taking a cue from Assam and Darjeeling tea, a move to create Meghalaya brand tea is on with the state having 11 small and medium tea making factories. “We want to move with our own brand,” said Suiam.
The tea factories in the state are Arengh Tea, Anderson Tea, Nalari Tea, Urlong Tea, Arsla tea, Lakyrsiew Tea, Sharawn Tea, Meg Tea, Alokpang Tea, Denmar Tea and Durama tea. Of these, Meg Tea, Lakyrsiew Tea, Dermar Tea, Arsla tea and Urlong Tea are organic.
He informed that a meeting was held prior to the lockdown wherein NITI Aayog wanted to extend support for improving tea quality, set up tea tourism and also for organic conversion.
However, marketing remains a weak point and Suiam admitted that. “Marketing of the tea products has to be aggressive. Now, the local tea is also found in some departmental stores and hotels,” he said.
With less production, the Horticulture Department is eyeing the local taste and will not pursue export stating that people from the state should have a taste of the state grown tea.
Suiam is banking on quality. He observed that even if production is less, quality should be good.
As for the auction of tea, there are buyers (Lakyrsiew sells its tea in the UK) but auction is a good system for huge volumes which is not viable for Meghalaya tea growers. “We hope to get good buyers for our tea. Meg tea was also sent to Germany but then again, production is less,” he said.
