Kangra tea industry in crisis

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, February 10

The tea industry in the Kangra valley is going through serious crisis these days as the number of tea growers has come down from 6,000 to 1,800 in the past seven years. Despite various schemes announced by the Union and the state governments, tea growers have failed to avail maximum benefits.

The shortage of labour, non-availability of subsidy on fertilisers, inputs and other assistance from the state government have led to abandoning of farms by a number of tea growers in the Kangra valley.

In the last season, there was a sharp decline in the production of green tea leaves due to lack of manpower. The production of green tea leaves was recorded at 30 per cent. Small tea growers are the worst hit as the decline in green tea leaves production has been recorded up to 70 per cent.

The total loss to the local tea industry has been estimated at Rs 50 crore. However, experts and scientists at the Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University (HPAU) say the figures might be higher than the estimated one.

Five years back, the Tea Board of India had announced to launch a multi-crore project for the revival of tea garden in the Kangra valley but no funds have been released by the Centre till date.