In order to protect small tea growers hit by declining prices, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today set up a ‘Price Stabilisation Fund for Green Tea Leaf’ with a corpus of Rs 12 crore.
The fund will benefit 22,000 small tea growers in the hill district of Nilgiris “who are hit by an international fall in the prices of tea”, she said in a statement here.
“If the price fixed by factories under the Tamil Nadu Small Tea Growers Industrial Cooperative Tea Factories Federation Ltd (INDCOSERVE) happens to be less than the minimum price determined by the Tea Board, an additional support price of Rs 2 per kg for green tea leaf will be given to small tea growers from the stabilísation fund,” she said.
The State Government would contribute Rs 8 crore and INDCOSERVE would pitch in with Rs 4 crore towards the corpus for the current fiscal.
Every year, INDCOSERVE will give 75 per cent of its profits from the sale of “Ooty tea” to the price stabilisation fund. The rest will be provided by the Government.