Dibrugarh, Aug 8: To strengthen the small tea growers of northeast India, North East Confederation Small Tea Growers Association (NECSTGA), an umbrella organisation, was formed recently in Golaghat.
Addressing a press conference here, Diganta Phukan, president of NECSTGA, said, “It is an umbrella organisation of all small tea growers of northeast. It was formed in Golaghat on June 3, 2024 and recently we got our registration. We have formed a 23-member strong executive committee to look after the works of the organisation.”
“Through our platforms, the small tea growers can raise their issues to the government and we will all worker together to solve the problems faced by the small tea growers. Our aim is expansion of small tea growers in northeast and sustainable development with priority basis,” Phukan said.
He further clariid that the confederation is not a parent organisation. They will work towards uniting all the small tea growers on one platform and work together to solve the problem.
The Small Tea Growers (STGs) in Assam emerged into the tea industry of Assam after 1978. These small tea growers sell their green tea leaf to the tea manufacturing factories owned by big tea estates or others.
“The tea industry has been facing numerous challenges but major problems are the climate change and use of banned chemicals. Due to climate change, the tea sector of Northeast has been adversely affected. And the use of banned chemicals is also hampering the tea crop. We will address all the issues and urge the government to do needful to solve the problems,” said Binod Borgohain, general secretary of NECSTGA.
He further said they will demand that tea should be declared as the national drink and Dibrugarh should be declared as Tea city with Auction centre.
“The Tea Board of India head office should be at Guwahati instead of Kolkata and Toklai should be declared as National asset with Tea hub and Tea tourism centre,” he further demanded.
As per Tea Board India data, there are a total of 1,25,484 small tea growers in the state, who have 1,17,304 hectares of land under cultivation and contribute nearly 48 per cent of the total tea produced annually in the state.
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