JORHAT, May 5 - To attract global consumers more for the quality tea of the state, the Tea Research Association (TRA) has recently started a special �cluster training programme� for hundreds of small tea growers at different tea belts of various districts who produced about 40 per cent of total green leaves in past some years without being trained properly by the competent authority.
It is to be mentioned that the small growers have been playing significant role in every tea belt across the state that produced over 610 million kg of tea in the financial year of 2014-15 and the foreign consumers preferred it as one of the most popular beverages in several developed nations because of its quality.
However, for the long-term sustainability in the tough competitions in the global market, foreign buyers must be provided with the best quality of tea which requires technical expertise and best training module for the tea growers across the length and breadth of the state.
Global marketers of tea, namely, Tata Global Beverages Limited (TGBL), internationally recognized monitoring and advisory organization Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) and Amalgamated Plantation Limited helped TRA scientists in the special training programme that taught small growers to avoid pesticide residue in green leaves and to improve yield, quality of the produce.
�TGBL, ETP and Amalgamated Plantation Limited helped us immensely during this training programme that aims to improve yield, quality and avoid any pesticide residue in made tea. As the small growers produce around 40 per cent of the total green leaves in our state, they must be provided proper training for better production of quality tea,� said Dr SK Pathak, deputy director of the Advisory Services of TRA�s Tocklai Tea Research Institute.
Dr Pathak said that around 2000 small growers of various parts of the state will be trained at the initial stage of the training programme which will continue till November this year.
Recently several of the growers have already been provided training at Lattakoojan tea estate in Golaghat, Hatigarh tea estate in Dimakuchi and Nahartoli tea estate in Dibrugarh district.
It is to be mentioned that TRA has already deputed three resource persons at its Upper Assam, Tocklai and north bank advisory centres and the senior advisory officer of each centres were entrusted the job of nodal officers to make the programme more effective.
As the majority of the small growers were deprived of such a systematic training by a best-known research organisation like TRA, they faced serious problems in producing quality green leaves through proper application of fertilizers, pesticides and other nutrients.
�This training will help them in producing best quality of leaves which will definitely attract the global buyers to purchase Assam tea more and more. We are trying our best to provide required training to them,� said a senior scientist of TRA.