KOHIMA, March 13 – Nagaland has become the latest destination of officials of the Tea Board of India because most of the farmers have shifted towards exclusive tea cultivation instead of mixed crops, which is the convention. With the discovery that the taste here is akin to Darjeeling tea, farmers in districts like Phek and Mon may soon be competing in quality with neighbors Assam. Another crop that’s reportedly doing wonders is ginger which is fetching high prices for the farmers of the state. The Nagaland Empowerment of People through Economic Development (NEPED) has been attempting to establish market links with traders in Calcutta and Delhi. In fact, the state reportedly has a potential to be a competitor with Mizoram in this area, sources said.
Meanwhile, the history of the tea from Nagaland dates back to days of the Raj, when the Konyaks had impressed them by serving the red concoction from Mon area. However, the practice of growing tea was limited till home gardens and domestic use. For the last couple of years though farmers have been including tea as a major cash crop, some of them even going exclusive tea cultivation. “Since 1995, the area under tea cultivation has substantially increased and the gardens are good,” said a senior secretary of the Wastelands and Horticulture department. Said Hon Lai, a tea cultivator in Seonyang village of the district: “Dealers from Sivasagar come here and take away the yield.” The dealers, he said, mixed a truck of tea from the Mon area with two trucks of Assam tea. Was it to earn in volumes or in quality? “Quality is like Darjeeling tea, farmers were told by Tea Board officials giving a distinct flavors,” said C Shinwang Konyak, an Extra Assistant Commissioner in the district.
Some of the grading given by the Board is TB17, 22, 29 and 25. The same good signs are seen in other districts of the state also where tea cultivation is picking up. The speed of switching to tea from mixed crops has been accelerating since 1995. Today, Seonyang alone boasts of 300 hectares of tea. The price fetched by the farmers, however, is not as satisfactory. “People are actually new to this crop and do not know about the market dynamics or quality differences,” he said adding he was planning to come up with a tea factory for better profits. Farmers like him are few and most others are untrained in the skill of plucking. Tea plucking is a sensitive matter. For instance, the finest Darjeeling tea is one that comes from the timely plucking of two tender leaves and a bud. In Mon, due to lack of much awareness farmers lose out on the plucking time. But they enjoy other advantages compared to those in Assam.
Organic farming is the order in Nagaland and climate is different than Assam. Due to the former, some farmers said the time for the tea plant to grow to maturity is only a year, compared to the four years in Assam. Now, NEPED (Nagaland Empowerment of People through Environment Development), which is an Indo-Canadian venture to develop sustainable development, is bringing about some changes. As a result, even smaller farmers are taking up community farming in which tea is selected as the major crop. “We are finding out a better market,” said a happy Mantu, in village Guching.