Assam tea bodies flag pest challenge, demands swift action on insecticide clearance

Guwahati, Aug 28: A delegation of Assam Bought Leaf Tea Manufacturers’ Association (ABLTMA), Bharatiya Cha Parishad (BCP) and North Eastern Tea Association (NETA) urged the Tea Board to fast-track the matter of label claim extension to Acetamiprid and Imidacloprid (insecticides) with the Secretary CIB&RC (Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee) so that it is done in a fast-track manner.

The delegation reasoned it was essential in view of the high prevalence of pests and diseases in Assam compared to other tea-growing regions and the high cost of pest control in Assam.

“It is a well-known fact that pesticides are not added during the manufacturing process and are sprayed in fields to combat attacks by pests and diseases. The growers supply leaf to factories and we do not have any mechanism to check pesticides content in green leaf at the factory level. The rapid pesticide detection kit developed by a company in collaboration with TRA is also not giving proper results and moreover, it is highly expensive,” the delegation, which met the Deputy Chairman of Tea Board India at North Eastern Zonal Office of Tea Board in the city, said in its memorandum.

“The presence of pests and diseases in Assam is much more compared to tea tea-growing regions of southern India. Green fly is a menace in Assam and growers have suffered heavily this year due to green fly attack. Pest control is very expensive. Growers need affordable and effective approved pesticides to control pests and diseases. Label claim extension to Acetamiprid and Imidacloprid will help growers to a great extent in supplying compliant green leaf to tea factories. We think more than 90% of compliance issues of Assam tea would be over once MRLs for Acetamiprid and Imidacloprid are published. Imidacloprid and Cypermethrin have CODEX MRLs for tea and India is a member country of Codex,” it said.

Stating that tea growers and the tea industry were suffering from a noncompliance situation because of a letter from the Tea Board to FSSAI to put six off-label pesticides under compulsory testing, the delegation appealed to the Tea Board to withdraw that letter by writing another letter to FSSAI.

“We urge you to take up the matter of label claim extension to Acetamiprid and Imidacloprid with the Secretary CIB&RC so that it is done in a fast-track manner,” it added.

Representatives of the three associations present were Chand Kumar Gohain, Chairman of ABLTMA, Ajay Dhandharia, Chairman of NETA, Sumit Agarwalla, executive committee member of BCP, Chandrajit Baruah, vice-chairman of ABLTMA, Manab Agarwalla, executive committee member of NETA, and Bidyananda Barkakoty, adviser of NETA.

On the issue of having a single point of sale for better price realization, the delegation said that with five auction centres in North India (Kolkata, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, Guwahati and Jorhat), “it is in any case not a single point of sale. The auction dates are different, the buyers are different, the selling/buying prices are different, qualities of teas offered are different and so on. Therefore, in any case with five auction centres, it is not a single point of sale”.

The delegation argued that the two biggest disadvantages of the auction system were longer selling time and very high selling costs. “In addition to the above two, there are a couple of reasons why, in the last more than 150 years, not even 50% teas have been sold through public auctions. In the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre (GTAC), there is a capping of 5,800 lots per weekly sale. Beyond 5,800 lots, teas are not printed/offered for sale. With a 100% dust auction, the selling time has become much longer. Moreover, the traditional sellers in auction have to suffer immensely because of longer selling time and huge unsold teas.

By

Staff reporter