The Tamil Nadu Small Tea Growers' Industrial Cooperative Tea Factories' Federation (INDCOSERVE) has received a special grant of Rs 5 crore from the state government as the body is in dire financial straits. This sum would be distributed to the 13 industrial cooperative tea factories in the Nilgiris district to fulfil green leaves cost dues owed to small tea growers till April 2022.
The special grant has been approved on the condition that INDCOSERVE and the industrial cooperative tea factories take immediate steps to enhance the quality of leaf procured and work with the Tea Board to guarantee that the price set for tea leaves is reasonable. A complete restructuring package/ proposal for the operation of INDCOSERVE should also be pursued.
The Industries Commissioner and the Director of Industries and Commerce have said that various factors such as the difference in the price paid to the tea growers and the workable rate, obsolete machinery, and poor quality of leaf procured over the years have landed the industrial cooperative tea factories in dire financial straits now, according to a G.O issued by MSME secretary V Arun Roy on May 10.
In other context, lack of fertilizers, particularly urea and muriate of potash (MoP), is wreaking havoc on the plantation sector in Tamil Nadu, as the time window for nutrient application has passed with the region experiencing summer showers.
Tamil Nadu is the largest tea-growing region in South India, accounting for 71.2 percent of total production. However, there is no such problem with fertilizer availability in the other two plantation states of Karnataka and Kerala.
A lack of nitrogen, a major nutrient for a vegetative crop like tea, will result in severe nutrient deficiency symptoms, susceptibility to pests and disease, deterioration in tea quality, and a massive loss in productivity.
