Tea Industry Urges Declaration of Floor Price to Mitigate Financial Stress Faced by Women Planters
Image source : Â Thulasi Kakkat
The tea industry is calling on the Indian government to introduce a floor price for green leaf and other tea varieties to address the stagnating prices faced by planters in West Bengal. The Indian Tea Association (ITA) has proposed a floor price indexed to the cost of production, which would immediately resolve the issue of “unremunerative prices” without additional cost to the government. The ITA, which represents large tea makers, has suggested this to the Ministry of Commerce, and the governments of West Bengal and Assam have expressed support for the proposal.
Women planters in West Bengal, particularly those in Darjeeling, are experiencing acute financial stress due to tea prices not keeping up with the rising cost of production. Since 2014, tea prices in West Bengal have grown by around 4% CAGR, while costs of vital inputs such as coal, gas, and sulfur have grown at a CAGR of 9-12% during the same period.
The ITA has warned that an increase in wages for plantation workers, which is currently being negotiated between the state labour department, tea garden owners, and trade unions, will further aggravate the financial stress of tea producers and make estate operations unviable in West Bengal. Women workers in the state currently receive Rs 232 a day, which was last revised in June 2022.
The West Bengal tea industry is also facing a decline in production due to unfavorable weather conditions, which have adversely affected the crop in several tea-growing pockets in Dooars and Darjeeling. According to ITA data, the Darjeeling crop is estimated to be down by 39% in March, with a similar decline reported in several pockets in the Dooars region.
Re-reported from the story originally published in.. https://www.outlookindia.com/
