West Bengal small tea growers demand govt action on pricing and financial access

Small tea growers’ associations in West Bengal have appealed to the State Authorities for pressing coverage reforms to handle restricted bargaining energy, worth distortions, and poor financial access impacting over 50,000 small growers contributing 64% of the area’s tea output. 
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PTI

Small tea growers’ associations in West Bengal have sought coverage intervention from the State Authorities because the small tea growers have been going through restricted bargaining energy to barter honest costs, worth distortion, and restricted access to financial assist.

The associations have urged the Authorities to make sure honest and remunerative costs for small tea growers (STGs) in North Bengal, guarantee a sustainable flooring minimal worth for tea, regulate leaf brokers via a licensing system, and strengthen financial access and institutional assist for STGs.

Considerably, greater than 50,000 STGs are cultivating the brew and contributing round 64 per cent of West Bengal’s tea manufacturing.

Socioeconomic impression of small tea sector

In accordance with a Standing Paper on the Small Tea Sector of West Bengal, the expansion and evolution of the small tea sector in North Bengal is a robust story of resilience and transformation. Small tea growers have navigated quite a few challenges to determine tea cultivation as a viable and sustainable different to conventional and lower-return crops. This shift has had a big socioeconomic impression on the agricultural economic system of North Bengal.

Nonetheless, small landholdings cut back the growers’ capacity to barter honest costs with leaf brokers, purchased leaf factories (BLFs), and enter suppliers. Additionally, involvement of a number of intermediaries usually ends in worth distortions, diminishing growers’ earnings.

“Insufficient access to Authorities schemes out there to small farmers, mixed with constantly low worth realization, threatens the long-term viability of small tea cultivation. If these situations persist, growers could also be compelled to desert tea farming altogether, posing a danger to nationwide tea provide chains and the livelihoods of 1000’s dependent on the sector—significantly in distant areas with restricted different revenue alternatives,” the standing paper stated.

This doc is a joint initiative of the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers’ Associations (CISTA), the West Bengal United Discussion board of Small Tea Growers’ Associations (WBUFSTGA), and the Jalpaiguri District Small Tea Growers’ Affiliation (JDSTGA).

Financial and agricultural assist gaps

In accordance with this standing paper, small tea growers in West Bengal have insufficient access to finance for infrastructure improvement, significantly in processing, storage, and worth addition, which will increase their dependence on intermediaries.

“In comparison with the organized sector, small growers have restricted publicity to good agricultural practices (GAPs), extension companies, and digital applied sciences,” the doc identified.

Ignored worth sharing formulation 

Small tea growers in North Bengal aren’t receiving honest costs for his or her inexperienced leaf regardless of the Tea Board’s mandated Worth Sharing System (PSF)—which requires that 58 per cent of the Web Sale Common (NSA) go to growers and 42 per cent to purchased leaf factories (BLFs).

“Attributable to poor enforcement and lack of expertise, this formulation is extensively ignored. Unregulated leaf brokers—who deal with practically 92 per cent of inexperienced leaf produced by small growers yearly—act as intermediaries between growers and factories and take up a big share of the worth chain. These brokers reportedly function with no regulatory oversight, compromising each transparency and grower incomes,” stated the Standing Paper on the Small Tea Sector.

“This standing paper incorporates the challenges and issues of West Bengal’s small tea growers and it clearly states how the State Authorities’s intervention can change the coverage. We’ve submitted it to the Authorities. We hope that the Authorities will take obligatory actions to avoid wasting the small tea growers sector,” Indian Small Tea Growers’ Associations (CISTA) president Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty informed businessline.

Printed on July 29, 2025