The Tripura tea industry has been reeling under a crisis-like situation, experts on Tuesday underlined the need to focus on production of quality tea, preferably organic or green tea.
If a planter goes for organic or green tea, he or she will get a good price compared to traditional CTC tea. “I have come to know that two small tea planters of the State have sold tea at Rs 800 per kg tea as the product was organic,” AK Barooah, Director of the Tea Research Association (TRA), said.
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Barooah was speaking at a workshop on Integrated Pesticide Resistance (IPR) management of tea pests with special emphasis on red spider mite at the Pranja Bhavan here.
“Tripura has great potential in the tea industry as the agro-climatic situation is very conducive. Besides, the soil is also favourable for tea cultivation. The need is to bring diversity in tea production and produce quality tea to grab the market,” he said.
Sivananda Talwar, Director of the Science and Technology Department, also laid emphasis on organic tea production. “Organic tea plantation will not only bring extra money for tea planters, it will also better the ecological balance. Planters must avoid use of synthetic fertilisers,” he said.
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Minister for Science and Technology Sudip Roy Barman, who inaugurated the workshop, endorsed the views of the tea experts. “Since people are health conscious, tea planters must go for production of organic tea or green tea. If this is adopted, the tea industry will surely flourish in the days to come,” he said, reports The Assam Tribune.
The Chairman of the Tripura Tea Development Corporation (TTDC), Santosh Saha, and the Additional Director of Industries and Commerce Swapna Dutta joined the workshop as resource persons.