At a time when small tea growers’ share in India’s total tea crop is hovering at about 50%, the organised tea industry has helped launch an app that will act as a digital training tool for these growers while helping establish traceability for the segment, promoting quality and safe-farm practices.
The app has been launched in association with a global sustainability organisation, Solidaridad.
“Digital traceability has already been established for 2,500 such growers in Assam, West Bengal and the southern States... this will now be gradually extended to 70,000 small tea growers by this year end,” Shatadru Chattopadhayay, MD, Solidaridad Asia, told The Hindu. Moves are also afoot to establish a brand identity of small holders through a Trinitea logo, he said. It is proposing an ₹8-crore investment till 2021, in these efforts. Trinitea is an initiative by Indian Tea Association and Solidaridad for small tea growers.
Solidaridad Asia provides sustainability and training initiatives for several international projects covering tea and other commodities. Its current project is being implemented under the aegis of pacts signed between the Indian Tea Association, Association of Small tea growers in Assam and West Bengal and the United Planters Association of Southern India (UPASI).
“Establishing quality, compliance, generic promotion of India teas and increasing exports through incentivising production of good quality teas is our focus area,” Tea Board Chairman P. K. Bezboruah said.
ITA chairman Vivek Goenka said that producers in the organised tea sector, including ITA members, have increased their sourcing of green leaf to complement their output . “Traceability is a challenge. ITA, as a producers body, considers it prudent to associate and integrate the large production base of the small grower sector so that Indian tea industry can have an integrated sustainability agenda”, he said.