Tea growers in Wayanad on a sticky wicket

Sharp decline in price of green tea leaves; plantation stir hits business

A worker from Tamil Nadu picking tea leaves at a small-scale tea plantation at Chulliyode in Wayanad district.

A sharp decline in the price of green tea leaves has put the small-scale tea growers in Wayanad in a fix.

The spot price of green tea leaves on Thursday was Rs.5 to Rs.7.50 a kg (depending on the quality of leaves) against Rs.12 to Rs.13 a kg during the corresponding period last year. It was Rs.8 to Rs.9 a kg a month ago.

“We are forced to sell our produce at a throwaway price to Bought Leaf Agents (BLA) agents from Nilgiri in Tamil Nadu after the tea factories in Wayanad and Munnar areas stopped procuring tea leaves from farmers owing to the indefinite agitation launched by the trade unions in the plantation sector,” K.C. Krishnadas, secretary, Wayanad Small-Scale Tea Growers Association (WSSTGA) told

The Hindu . The total production of green tea leaves in the small-scale sector of the district a day is nearly 1,10,000 kg, of which seven tea factories functioning in the private sector had procured nearly 25,000 kg a day. Moreover, nearly 12,000 kg of tea leaves a day were also procured by BLAs for the factories managed by the Kanan Devan Hills Plantations in Munnar before the agitation .The remaining quantity was procured by the BLAs from Tamil Nadu for the tea factories functioning there.

“Now, we are forced to sell all the produce to the BLAs at a rock-bottom price,” K. Hassan, a small-scale farmer at Karadippara said.

The current price in the market for the produce was not remunerative as the production cost had doubled now, he said. The shortage of workers and the increasing inputs were also a cause for concern.

According to available data with the WSSTGA, as many as 12,000 small tea growers depend on the tea industry for their livelihood. Many of them have a landholding of 50 cents to five acres.

The average production from an acre is 500 kg a month and a farmer would get an income of Rs.2, 500 from it. But, he had to spend Rs.3,500 as plucking charge and around Rs.1,500 for fertilizer and pesticides in the present scenario , Mr. Krishanadas said.