DIBRUGARH, Jan 3 � In the wake of Tea Board of India issuing a Plant Protection Code (PPC) for compliance by tea estates and small tea growers, while also requiring tea factories to issue a declaration indicating that the teas comply with the provisions of PPC, the Assam Bought Leaf Tea Manufacturers� Association (ABLTMA) and the All India Manufacturers Organisation (AIMO �Tea Division) have said that the PPC provisions, in the present form, cannot be complied with and the member factories would not be in a position to buy green tea leaves from January 1, 2015 or whenever the 2015 manufacturing season resumes.
The tea manufacturing bought leaf factories associations after recent deliberations, are of the opinion that since the primary responsibility of the compliance of the PPC is with the tea estates and small tea growers, the Tea Board of India must certify plantations through their Development Officers, to then enable the registered factories to purchase tea leaves from the certified plantations.
ABLTMA chairman, Chand Kumar Gohain said that the Tea Board of India must take the step at the plantations of the growers as the factories do not use any chemicals during the manufacturing process. The Development Officers of the Tea Board of India must also be equipped with testing tools and implements to carry out random sample testing of the green tea leaves at the growers� end, he suggested.
AIMO chairman, Deven Singh has said that the Plant Protection Formulations (PPFs) have already been amended twice and the bought leaf factories associations have in the past welcomed the PPC, as this is the correct way forward to provide safe teas to the consumers.
However, the issues involved in the implementation are a major cause of concern, he said.
Expressing concern over the present form of PPC, Singh said that the Tea Board of India must notify the testing laboratories situated in the North Eastern region, which can undertake the tests required under the provisions of the PPC.
