SMALL TEA GROWER SECTOR IN ASSAM It was the clarion call given in 1978 by Late Soneswar Bora, the

then Minister of Agriculture and Co-operation, Government of Assam that ushered in a new era in the tea plantation history of Assam. He has been fondly and lovingly remembered as the father of the small tea growers in Assam. The call so given by him was welcomed by prospective entrepreneurs in the districts of Golaghat, Jorhat, Sibsagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia of upper Assam. A handful of entrepreneurs from these districts took the call as a loud message for future transformation of the socio-economic life of rural Assam and started planting tea in their land which hitherto would have been either lying vacant or was being utilized for some other crops. The message soon spread every nook and corner of the districts of upper Assam like wild fire and the small and marginal farmers, the unemployed youth and the aged took up tea plantation on any suitable land whether they belonged to them, their families or to Government. In this way, they brought vast stretches of land under tea cultivation for their own self-employment. This new found pursuit also created a big employment opportunity for the unemployed, under-employed and other weaker sections of the rural society ushering in a new era that transformed itself into a silent revolution in the history of tea industry in Assam. The growth of small grower sector was so meteoric that neither the Tea Board nor the State government was prepared to immediately make any intervention in this sector. Assam Agricultural University (AAU), recognising the need of advisory service for this upcoming tea growers, set up Tea Advisory Cell during 1988 with four faculty members in the Department of Tea Husbandry and Technology. The Tea Advisory Cell was welcomed and became popular among the STGs. It was then soon felt that this should be strengthened to render more comprehensive training and advisory services to STGs. Accordingly, the Tea Advisory Cell was rechristened as Small Tea Growers Advisory Programme (STAP) to be run with the financial assistance from the Tea Board. The phenomenal growth of small tea growers was a sort of wake up call for Tea Board to formulate a scheme to assist the emerging small tea growers. Tea Board responded immediately and formulated a subsidy scheme for the small tea growers viz: Special Scheme to provide inputs and interest subsidy for conversion of marginal/sub-marginal cultivation into tea in the districts of Golaghat, Jorhat, Sibsagar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and the Barak Valley and the same was launched in the year 1991, giving a retrospective effect from 1st April 1989. This scheme was modified in 1995 as Special Area Development Scheme. Again, the scheme was rationalized and a comprehensive scheme - Small Growers Development Scheme - was formulated for implementation during

the 9th Five Year Plan period. Under this scheme, it was envisaged to provide comprehensive development package for the small tea growers which included imparting of training on modern aspects of tea cultivation, study tours and field visits. This scheme was modified and rechristened as Small Growers (Capital Subsidy) Scheme and launched with effect from 1st April,1998. This scheme was replaced by a more comprehensive Scheme New Planting in Small holdings in N.E. region including Sikkim and Uttaranchal for implementation during the 10th Five Year Plan period. In the 11th Five Year Plan, the assistance in the form of subsidy/loan is extended as follows: i) For all the growers regardless of the size of their holding Special Purpose Tea Fund SPTF Scheme for replantation/replacement planting and rejuvenation of old tea areas and for creation of irrigation, drainage and transportation facilities ii) For individual small growers holding upto 4.00 ha under tea. New planting in the North East region and in hilly areas of other regions of above 2500 feet above MSL. iii) For small grower SHGs The assistance is provided for Common Facilities with a ceiling of Rs.5.00(five) lakhs per SHG. Tea Board is to create Revolving Corpus Fund as one time grant to the SHGs at the rate of Rs.10,000/- per hectare of tea area under the command of the SHG. The following items are included for assistance: a). Setting up leaf collection centres/input storage godowns b). Purchase of weighing scales/leaf carry bags/plastic crates c). Purchase of transport vehicles d). Purchase of field inputs - fertilizers, plant protection chemicals and implements (pruning machines, sprayers etc ) There are 109 SHGs in the State of Assam and most of the SHGs are running. It was also expressed that the future of STGs lies only in organising themselves into SHGs. A few statistics on STGs of the Assam Valley 1. Total number of STGs in the 14 districts: 68,459

District

No of Small Growers 18595 19160 9590 5889 11286

Tea District

No of Small Tea Growers 186 482 1356 1093 6 122 4

Tinsuki Dibrugarh Sibsagar Jorhat Golaghat

Dhemaji Lakhimpore Sonitpur Udalguri Darrang Kokrajhar Dhubri 120000.75 acres 59,717 (87%) 46,474 (67%)

Karbi Anglong 241 Nagaon 449

2. Area under tea plantation: 3. Holding below 3.00 acres: 4. Tea bushes below 10 years: 5. Production of green leaf in Kgs: Year

Green leaf Year Production in KG 218461000 243290000 271896000 2007 2008

Green leaf production in KG 307142000 396574417

2004 2005 2006

6. STGs having direct linkage with factories : 4920 7. STGs selling through agents : 63544

( Source : Survey report, Government of Assam) 8. Number of STGs of Assam registered with Tea Board (31-03-12): 4966 9. Area registered with Tea Board: 10 Number of Self Help Group: 11. Number of Bought Leaf Factories: 12. Number of Co-operative Factories: 12472.80 Ha 109 213 1

Declaration of a new policy for the STGs by Government of Assam

Government of Assam defined its commitment to the STG sector when the Honble Chief Minister of Assam announced a new policy for the development and welfare of the STG sector on 13th of January 2011 while releasing the first survey report conducted by the Department of Industries and Commerce on the STGs and BLFs of Assam. The policy has been named as Cess Utilisation Policy for Development and Welfare of Small Tea Growers of Assam, 2010 The highlights of the new policy are: i) Providing infrastructure for setting up green leaf collection and auction centres ii) Creation of revolving fund and providing loan to STGs iii) Training at institutional, field and outside iv) Insurance to workers v) Special assistance to STGs/SHGs to set up small orthodox/CTC factory vi) Subsidy for procurement of green leaf carrying vehicles vii) Assistance to meet emergency medical expenses for tea workers viii) Assistance to meet tuition fees for higher study of children of labour /STGs. ix) Assistance for collective drainage to SHGs/Co-operatives x) Assistance for replacement/re-plantation of tea bushes

The assistance which would be in the form of loan will be extended at 2% below the PLR, except the loan taken from the revolving fund which would be interest free. The other schemes are proposed to be in the nature of grant-inaid/subsidy.