Brew to battle boars - farmers take to tea cultivation

A “small tea garden” at Plungdung, 40km from Darjeeling. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, June 3: Farmers in the hills have started cultivating tea in parts of their land to compensate for losses from the destruction of other crops by wild boar.

Darjeeling Organic Ekta Society, a small tea growers’ association, today enlisted about 300 farmers who had turned to tea cultivation — their land holdings spread over approximately 500 acres.

“At times all vegetable produce is destroyed by wild boars. Many farmers in the hills have realised that the best way out is to cultivate tea which cannot be uprooted by the wild boars,” said Sonam Tshering Yolmo, a farmer and secretary of the society.

Wild boars are known to dig entire farmlands with their snouts while searching for tubers. A raid by a herd of such boars usually destroys the entire crop in a given area.

The farmers have formed tea self-help groups in Pokhriabong, Rangbhang, Seyook, Milling, Lamahatta, Pulungdung and Raniban. The SHGs are members of the Ekta Society.

“This does not mean that our farmers have left out cultivating leafy vegetables like carrot and cauliflower and cash crops like ginger and cardamom. Tea cultivation is confined to about 40 per cent of their total land,” said Yolmo.

The farmers sell the tea leaves, which have been certified by an appropriate authority as “organic”, to a tea garden in Darjeeling.

“Our green leaves fetch a price of Rs 45 per kg,” said Yolmo. He cultivates tea on 59 decimals (0.59 acre) of land. The produce is 150 kg of green tea leaves annually.

Some farmers cultivate tea on as much as five acres too. According to the Tea Board of India norms, farmers are considered small growers (of tea) if their garden area is a maximum of 25 acres.

The Ekta Society in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Plantation Management, Bangalore, today held a workshop for these farmers to teach them ways to strengthen their business model.

“We are basically trying to teach them to add value to their product, to maintain quality and solve issues that may crop up in any SHG,” said Tanmoy Chatterjee, lecturer, IIPM, Bangalore.

According to Chatterjee, an SHG at Pabari in Jalpaiguri district is ready to set up its own tea manufacturing unit by next year. “The work has already started. We are also exploring the possibilities of replicating such a model in other places,” said Chatterjee.

Farmers in the hills want the state government to recognise growers who have taken up tea cultivation as late as 2008. As of now only those farmers who had started tea cultivation before 2001 are recognised by the state government.

“In the hills, 52 farmers are registered with the state government as small tea growers while 38 more have received a no-objection certificate (on their business) from the land and land reforms department. We are confident all the farmers will receive the NOC soon,” said Yolmo.

Farmers enlisted with the Ekta Society have not got their NOCs yet. “All these farmers had started growing tea from the time of their ancestors but had not taken care of the bushes or established their business properly. Now when they are seriously pursuing tea cultivation, the government’s directive means that they cannot expand their business,” said Yolmo.

Only a registration as a small grower ensures aid from the Tea Board and loans too.           ->TT