Minor Menace

EVER since big tea factories started buying green tea leaf from small tea-growers in the early '90s, growing tea on a small patch of  land has become lucrative business. So has stealing green leaf from big gardens. Says P.K. Kaul, vice-president of Assam Tea Company: "Stealing green leaf is not yet recognised as a major menace. But believe me, as prices go up, big gardens will face a big problem."

Currently, big factories pay Rs 9 to 10 per kg of green leaf. In another couple of years, this rate could go up to Rs 12. "If a labourer can pluck and deliver even 10 kg a day, he earns about Rs 50, compared to Rs 30 for a daily wage earner," points out a senior manager. Since gardens cannot really be protected given that they are spread over a very large area, thefts are increasing. Says another manager: "It is all very well to encourage small tea-growers but we must guard against spurious persons who simply register themselves as small growers and instead of working hard to plant, proceed to organise theft of green leaf tea to earn a quick buck."

The small tea-growers are aware of the harm being done to them by unscrupulous operators but they have their own difficulties. Most of the land on which they are cultivating tea is not their own since the state government has not yet given them permanent settlement. "Since we do not have pucca ownership of land, we do not get bank loans or any other subsidy," points out Dilip Saikia of the Small Tea-Growers' Association.

But Robin Barthakur, additional secretary with the Assam branch of the India Tea Association, is willing to give the planters all the encouragement. "These growers are a new phenomenon. Let's give them a chance to prove themselves."