Small tea growers are waiting for the commissioning of the ‘Small Grower Development Directorate’ promised to be done this month.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce headed by Shanta Kumar, which evaluated the performance of plantation sector, has recorded in its report submitted last month, “This Directorate is expected to become functional in September 2012”.
The Committee has noted that Tea Board has already obtained requisite approval from the Government for setting up the Directorate with adequate manpower to look after small growers’ development.
“The Committee hopes that the Directorate will provide effective extension services, better management of all gamut from plantation to marketing, quality improvement, value-addition, developing small growers’ export potential and better price realisation”, the report notes.
“The Committee wants the commissioning of the Directorate within the current financial year”, it adds,“This implies that the Committee fears a delay in commissioning the Directorate. The nearly 1.50 lakh small growers in the country are waiting for the Directorate to give them a roadmap for price recovery during the XIIth Plan.”
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