Tea Board of India to recruit development officers and factory advisory officers

Siliguri, Feb. 17.TT: The Tea Board of India has decided to recruit development officers and factory advisory officers across the country to monitor the emerging small tea sector that contributes around 26 per cent of the brew in India.

“One development officer would be recruited for every 2,000-3,000 small growers to look into their problems and help in improving the sector,” G. Boriah, the director (development) of tea board, told The Telegraph here today. “As bought-leaf factories (BLFs) are integral part of the small tea sector, a decision has been taken to appoint one factory advisory officer for every 25 BLFs spread over India.”

Boriah said the officers would function under the Small Growers’ Development Directorate which was formed under the tea board last year. He was in north Bengal to assess the progress of utilisation of the Special Purpose Tea Fund, a scheme floated by the Centre in 2007 to help tea estates replant new bushes and rejuvenate old ones.

“Small growers and BLFs often come up with allegations against each other. Issues like lower price realisation, non-compliance with price-sharing formula and lack of government assistance are regularly raised by growers. The BLFs complain about irregular supply, poor quality of tea leaves and less auction prices,” Boriah said.

The officers, Boriah said, will deal with these complaints at the micro-level and sort them out.

The development officers will visit small tea plantations, keep tabs on the quality of leaves plucked and ensure that the growers get all available assistance from central and state governments. Factory advisory officers, on the other hand, will check the quality of tea produced at the BLFs and see that price-sharing formula is followed and growers are paid their dues. There are around 1.6 lakh small growers in the country, contributing 26 per cent of India’s total tea production.

The tea board has also decided to stand by self-help groups of small growers and help them set up their own factories.

“In the 12th Five Year Plan, we have proposed that we will give these self-help groups a one-time capital subsidy of 40 per cent of the project cost of the tea factories,” Boriah said.

The tea board will arrange for bank loans for remaining 50 per cent while 10 per cent will have to be borne by the growers.