From Saurav Bora
GUWAHATI: Meghalaya will soon have another premium organic tea brand catering to niche markets across the country and the world.
Yes, after the success of Meg Tea, an organic brand developed and promoted by the state agriculture department since 2012-13, the Arsla brand of green, black and Oolong orthodox teas will hit the outlets by mid-2018 and add more cheer to the cuppa.
The Arsla Organic Tea Growers’ and Producers’ Cooperative Society comprising 37 organic tea farmers in Ri Bhoi district has battled fund constraint to set up its own factory at Nongjri in Umsning.
The plant to be run by the society is likely to start production by June. It will have a capacity of producing 40,000 kg tea per annum.
“We joined hands to form the cooperative society after our plantations were certified organic in 2013. This was facilitated by the state Horticulture Department. However, since there was no plant to process organic tea in the district, we decided to set up a factory of our own,” KW Chyne, the co-promoter of the cooperative society, told The Shillong Times on Tuesday.
The plant will cost about Rs 25 lakh while the equipment about Rs 45 lakh. The transformer has been installed at a cost of Rs 10 lakh.
“There are other components such as land development, approach road, power distribution on the part of MeECL,” Chyne, who is also the secretary of the Ri Bhoi Tea Growers Association, said.
In the absence of financial assistance from the government, the planters had to approach the banking system for loan.
The organic tea farmers in the district, it is pertinent to mention, had since 2013 been selling their premium tea leaves at a loss to factories making conventional teas.
“We had to sell our leaves at a nominal price of Rs 16 per kg. So we had to settle for less given that there was no organic tea processing plant. There was a thought of tying up with some factories producing conventional tea. But the concern was of contamination and so we dropped the idea,” he said.
On the status of the plant, Chyne said, “Over 70 per cent of the construction work has been completed. The machinery is in transit (from Punjab) and should reach the site this week.”
On whether the brand would be exported to other countries, he said the marketing and promotion aspects would be discussed in due course.
Tea is grown in Ri Bhoi, Upper Shillong (East Khasi Hills) and West Garo Hills of Meghalaya.
Sources in the Horticulture Department say the relatively younger tea plants in Meghalaya produce higher yields and are rich in flavour. The scale of production is, however, small with just over 2,000 hectares currently under cultivation in the hill state.
From the Durama brand (West Garo Hills), which is sold locally, Anderson tea, to LaKyrsiew premium organic tea for niche customers in the UK, Meghalaya tea has managed to build an identity of its own over the decade.