Plans afoot to revive Kangra’s cooperative tea factories
Three of the four units set up between 1964 and 1981 were shut due to the high operational cots, losses
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special revival plan will be worked out to rejuvenate cooperative tea factories in Himachal’s Kangra district. The matter was deliberated at the recent 250th board meeting of the Tea Board of India, held in Palampur, with stakeholders agreeing that a detailed strategy is needed to make the units operational again.
The factories, established decades ago to manufacture and market tea, were closed due to financial losses.
Four cooperative tea factories manufacturing and marketing were set up between 1964 and 1981 with the help of the state government in Bir, Palampur, Dharamshala and Baijnath to help small tea growers who could not afford their own manufacturing units. Today, only the Palampur co-operative unit remains operational. The other three were shut down due to high operational costs and leased to private owners.
With no particular scheme in place to revive cooperative tea factories, officials are looking at provisions of the existing Tea Development and Promotion scheme of Tea Board of India, under which assistance may be provided for the revival of the units.
Tea Board India Palampur deputy director Rakesh Kumar, said, “We will now study what can be done to revive these factories under a special revival plan. We will visit these factories and prepare a proposal which we will place before the competent authorities for consideration.”
The units’ revival, tea planters also say, will help small growers in the region and may also help in the revival of the tea industry.
Kangra Valley Small Tea Planters Association president Suksham Butail said, “If some assistance is provided to Palampur cooperative tea factory, which is functioning but in losses, and the cooperative factory in Bir is revived, it will benefit around 250 small growers. There are a large number of small growers who can feed these factories. It will also provide livelihood to around 6,000 individuals.”
Once popular in Europe, Central Asia and Australia, and even Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Karga tea has lost favour and production has plummeted in recent years. According to data shared by Tea Board India officials in Palampur, 2,310 hectares of land is under tea cultivation on paper. However, only around 1,400 hectares is currently being used.
Kangra tea is known for its unique aroma and traces of fruity flavour. Milder than the Darjeeling tea in terms of flavour, it has more body and liquor. The tea is grown 900-1,400 m above sea level on the slopes of the Dhauladhar mountain range in the western Himalayas.
Dr Jameson, then superintendent of the Botanical Tea Gardens, had in 1849 spotted the region’s potential for tea cultivation. Being one of India’s smallest tea regions makes Kangra green and black tea more exclusive.