The Hindu Business Line : Tea Board scraps sops for expanding area

``This does not mean that the board has imposed a ban on area expansion, but there would be no encouragement or subsidy from the board for this. This is in tandem with the plea of the growers themselves. In any case, the number of applicants for the scheme is minimal,'' Mr Vikram Kapur, Executive Director of Tea Board, told Business Line on the sidelines of a quality upgradation programme in Hittakkal village near Kotagiri.

The board would, however, continue with the subsidy for rejuvenation and replanting in existing fields.

``This measure can help to curtail excess production and hence discipline the price movement to the advantage of the growers,'' he said. The focus, on the other hand, would be to press for ISO certification in factories, he said.

Earlier, he inaugurated the modernised Hittakkal Estate Tea Factory, for whose upgradation the board had given a subsidy of Rs 20 lakhs.

Mr M. Bhojarajan, Managing partner and member of the Tea Board, said the balance of the funds was raised through internal sources and loans from Canara Bank.

Speaking on the occasion, both Mr Vikram Kapur and the Upasi Krishi Vigyan Kendra's (KVK) Training Associate, Mr Ramamurthy, left an impression that the corporate tea sector has a lesson or two to learn from the bought leaf tea factories in the small scale sector. Mr Kapur said the quality upgradation in the bought leaf sector was being watched by tea interests all over the world. ``The percentage of teas from bought leaf factories in the quality segment is significant enough for all to take a note of,'' he said.

Disclosing that the Government had decided in principle not to fix any floor price for tea, Mr Kapur said during last auction, as many as 29 factories in the bought leaf sector of Nilgiris received at least Rs 10 per kg more than the auction average. ``Some factories have been getting Rs 60 a kg. Many factories are even now paying over Rs 10 a kg for the green leaf based on quality. So, when you can do this yourself, what is the need for the Government intervention and artificial manipulation of prices?'' he asked.

Observing that factories which had modernised were getting a higher price, he said that so far, for the upgradation scheme, 88 applications had been received two-thirds of which, had been sanctioned while the rest were under process.

``So far, we have disbursed Rs 5 crore as subsidy for factory modernisation. I would urge all factories to go for this scheme as it encourages the conversion into the production of high-priced orthodox teas and removes reconditioned teas from the market", he said.

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