Dibrugarh, Feb. 4: Assam?s beleaguered tea industry today suggested a two-pronged strategy, based on research and development, to bail out the sick sector. Speaking at its annual general meeting here today, outgoing chairman of the Bharatiya Chah Parishad Krishna Kanta Saharia sought the revival of the Tea Research Association, saying the tea industry in the past had almost ignored research and development.
?During the year that has just gone by, helopeltis (a disease of tea leaves) played havoc in the tea plantations of Upper Assam causing extensive damage and resulting in average yield in the high-yield areas like the Doom Dooma belt,? he said.
As part of the twin strategies, Saharia suggested that for long-term benefits, the researchers, along with government assistance, should find high-yielding and high-quality planting materials.
The chairman proposed that short-term measures should include disease-control, building a modern drainage system and ensuring efficient transportation of green leaf. He also advised that the research data could be disseminated though a dedicated and capable advisory department.
?Indian tea can no longer rest on its past laurels if it has to regain its pre-eminence in the world market. Therefore, we must shun the old practices of the industry and have a long, hard look at our future action plan,? Saharia said.
He felt that Indian tea must explore the hitherto-unexplored US market. Quoting from a survey conducted by an agency, Leflien Associates, in May last year, which said 56 per cent of American adults drink tea on a regular basis, the chairman said the Tea Board should send delegations to Western countries and especially to the US, for promotion of Indian tea.
The survey had said that 61 per cent women in the US drink tea as against 51 per cent men. Young adults, aged between 18 and 24 years, prefer tea to any other beverage while 53 per cent of the respondents between 25 and 34 years of age drink tea in that country, the survey had added.
Saharia expressed satisfaction with the Union finance minister?s interim budget proposal for providing a package for the beleaguered industry. He, however, said it needed to be examined properly.
Describing the current recession in the industry as the worst in its 70-year history, Saharia said in 2003, tea production in the country went up by 34 million kg compared to 2002. But there was a sharp fall in exports from 150 million kg to 50 million kg.
India?s inability to recapture the Russian market after the fall of the Soviet Union and Iraq, the other viable market for Indian tea, since the recent war, only added to the industry?s woes.
Saharia said the Consultative Committee of Planters Association (CCPA) has approached the Union commerce and finance ministries with certain recommendations for a relief package which would include incentives for labourers like providing agriculture loans.
The outgoing chairman of the parishad, however, expressed the hope that the industry would soon recover from the latest economic slump.