JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS

ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 18, 2020

Organic Cultivation and its Prospects and Problems: A Study in Dibrugarh District of Assam,

Manuranjan Gogoi*

Assistant Professor (Contract), Department of Economics, Madhabdev University, Assam, India Corresponding Email: [email protected]

Abstract Organic tea cultivation is a most emerging farming activity in recent years. Assam is only the state of India, where the highest tea is produced. Organic tea farming is a new concept for the state Assam. It is more beneficial than the conventional system of tea cultivation. Also it has many positive impacts for human health. So, the present study is trying to analyze the present scenario of organic tea cultivation of Assam as well as its problems and prospects. Keywords: Organic tea, Assam, Problems, Prospects

1. Introduction Assam is a state of North- East India, located south of the eastern Himalayas, comprises the Brahmaputra Valley and the Barak Valley. The total geographical area is about 78,438 sq. km and out of which 56,194 sq. km and 22,244 sq. km fall under Brahmaputra and Barak valley including two hill districts respectively. The Economy of the state is based on agriculture and about 60 percent of the total population is engaged in agriculture, according to census 2011 and most of the agricultural activities depend on climate. Tea is one of the major agro based industry of the state and make the region a large tea growing belt in the country as well as in the whole world. 1.1 History of Tea in India and was discovered growing wild in Assam by the British in early 1800. Although a consignment of tea seed is reported to have been brought from China to India by East India Company as early as 1774, and the history of Tea in India was begun in1823. Major Robert Bruce while visiting as member of a trading mission in 1823 discovered Tea plants growing wild in some hills of near Rangpur (Now Sivasagar), capital of Assam in that time. After that the development of Tea sector is going on. Now, the major tea growing states in India are Assam, Sikkim, West- Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Bihar, Orissa etc. Assam has about 10 per cent of the area under tea in the world and produces about 13 per cent of the of the world tea production. 1.2 Concept of Organic cultivation: The concept of organic agriculture developed in the 1930s and certified organic products have been available since the beginning of 1970. The aim of organic farming is to create integrated, human, environmentally and economically sustainable production systems, which maximize reliance on farm-derived renewable resources and the management of ecological and biological processes and interactions, so as to provide acceptable levels of crop, livestock and human nutrition, protection from pests and disease, and an appropriate return to the human and other resources. According to APEDA “Organic products are grown under a system of agriculture without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides with an environmentally and socially responsible approach. This is a method of farming that works at grass root level preserving the reproductive and regenerative capacity of the soil, good plant nutrition, and sound soil management, produces nutritious food rich in vitality which has resistance to diseases” 1.3 Concept of Organic Tea The Tea industry of Assam witnessed many structural changes over the period of time. One of the major structural changes in this sector termed as Organic tea cultivation, the most popular, modern and scientifically accepted cultivation system. India leads the world in organic black tea output. Organic Tea constituted 2% of the total organic food products (263,687 metric tons) exported from India in 2015-2016. The entire production is exported to the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, Japan and Australia. Organic tea of India is now making inroads into new markets like Russia, Japan, China and the UAE. Recently, Organic tea of Assam also plays a vital role in the process of production and marketing in the world market and brings a good remuneration to the growers. Orthodox tea: Tea was processed this way for centuries, by hand, with great care. Some of today's great are still produced in this manner. It can be green, black etc.

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JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS

ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 18, 2020

Green tea: Unfermented tea that is immediately heated (or steamed) to kill the fermentation enzymes. It is then rolled and dried. Naturally low in caffeine, the brew is very light in colour. Green teas range from a light, fragrant taste to a very bold vegetal flavour. Oolong tea: Semi-oxidized tea from China or Formosa; a diplomatic tea in that Oolong is a compromise between black tea and green tea. It is more delicate than black tea and stronger than green tea.

2. Importance of the study Dibrugarh and Tinsukia district of Assam playing a vital role in the field of world tea market from many decades. Tea cultivation is one of the major sources of occupation, employment and income of the both districts. It has 11,885 and 8,109 small tea gardens in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia district respectively and the Dibrugarh district is having the highest number of small tea gardens among all the districts of Assam, according to tea board of India. On the other hand more than 80 percent organic tea gardens of both districts fall under small tea gardens (≤ 10.12 hectare). So, for the study it has taken only the small organic tea gardens. Tea Board of India Defines the Small and Big Tea growers as follows- Tea Grower Small Tea Grower ≤10.12 Hectares

Big Bea Grower >10.12 Hectares

3. Objectives 1. To study the present scenario of Organic Tea cultivation. 2. To study the production performance of organic tea.

4. Methodology and Sample Design The study is based on both primary and secondary data. Primary data are collected through using interview method. Secondary data are taken from Tea Board of India, Dibrugarh, Different Reports of government and non- government organizations, such as National Centre of Organic Farming, Organic small Tea Growers Association of North-East India etc. and has been followed various research thesis and research articles. For collection of primary data Dibrugarh district is selected. Under Tea Board of India, Dibrugarh, it is having 8 Sub-Regional offices (SRO) and it is having 70 organic tea growers. Out of them 68 are small and 2 are big. For choosing the survey area Rajgarh SRO is selected, in which all the gardens are small in size and also it has the highest number of organic tea gardens among all the SROs. Out of 47 organic tea gardens of Rajgarh SRO, 50 percent are taken as sample. 5. Present scenario of Organic Tea growers in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia The organic tea growers of the district basically identified by the Tea Board of India and they try to categorized them in different categories. The growers of the district are categorized as follows- 5.1 Whether Certified/Not Certified/Under Conversion Figure:1 Figure: 2 Small Organic Tea Growers Big Organic Tea Growers Certified 11.76 11.76 2.94 Not Certified 50 Certified 50

73.52 Certification Under Under Conversion Process Under conversion

Source: Tea Board of India Survey Report 2017

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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 18, 2020

Figure 1 shows 11.76 percent tea grower certified by Tea Board of India, and about 73.52 percent grower are not certified. The remaining parts are under conversion and certification under process. On the other hand 50 percent growers are certified and 50 percent under conversion in the category of big tea grower in figure 2. 5.2 Organic Tea production in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia As time goes on, number of organic tea grower continuously increasing in Dibrugarh district. The number of organic tea growers which are still started manufacturing was 13, 21 and 37 in the year of 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively. It is noticeable in the mentioned years only increased the small tea growers rather than big growers. On the other hand out of 70 organic tea growers, 33 growers are not still started manufacturing at the same time. The total area covers under organic tea cultivation is 254.955 hectare and out of this 234.93 hectare land started to produce tea till 2016 and 20.025 hectare land are not started to produce tea. Figure: 3 Productions and Area under Organic Tea in Dibrugarh District from 2014 to 2016

500 421.951 439.373 389.641 400

300 195.6 202.27 234.93 Production (MT)

200 Area (Ha)

100

0 2014 2015 2016

Source: Tea Board of India Survey Report 2017

In the figure: 3, It is explained that the area of cultivation under the organic tea continuously increase but in the production side it is decline in the year of 2015 and again it leads to increase in the year 2016. In the production of organic tea, larger part are taken by the big tea growers and the contribution to the total organic tea in the year of 2014,2015 and 2016 about 98.92 percent, 97.89 percent and 95.68 percent. It is resulted that share of big farmer continuously decline and share of small tea grower to the total organic tea production continuously increased. For the measurement of annual growth both land area and production the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) has to be used.

( )

 CAGR of Production= 1.357785883  CAGR of land Area in Organic Tea = 6.297538891 The growth rate of production is lower than growth of land area; this is because of many growers who are newly stared to produce and many of them have no sufficient dry facility of the leaf, so they sale the green leaf directly. 5.3 Method of Manufacturing

Manufacturing is one of the key factors of organic tea and sometimes it can also influence its marketing chain, this is because of its human friendly and sustainability nature of environment.

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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 18, 2020

Figure: 4 Figure: 5 Small Organic Tea Growers Big Organic Tea Growers 5.71 5.71 Hand Rolled 50 Machinery 50 Machinery 88.57 Hand Rolled Hand Rolled And and Machinery Machinery

Source: Tea Board of India Survey Report 2017

In the above figures shows the manufacturing methods used by both small growers and big growers. Figure 4 shows that out of 35 small tea grower 88.57 percent used hand rolled method, 5.71percent grower used machinery and 5.71percent grower used both machinery and hand rolled method. On the other side in figure 5, out of total 2 growers, 50 percent used the Machine and 50 percent used both the hand rolled and machine.

5.4 Type of tea Manufacturing and Marketing In the following figure: 6 shows that the type of manufacturing and it shows that out of 10 growers 100 percent growers manufactured green tea, 80 percent manufactured orthodox black and 30 percent growers manufactured different varieties of tea. In this category they have manufactured yellow, oolong, lemon etc. According to them the demand of green tea is very high than the others in local market. Figure 6: Type of Manufacturing

100 100 Green Tea 80 Orthodox black 80 60 Other 40

20 30 0

Source: Field survey, June 2019

6. Problem Faced by Organic tea Growers Organic tea grower of the study area faced by different problems shows in the following figure- Table: 1 Financial Storage Transportation Non-availability of Labour

66.67% (6 ) 100% (9) 55.56% (5) 22.22%(2)

Source: Field survey, June 2019

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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 18, 2020

In the above table shows out of 10 growers 9 faces different problems. Out of the 9 growers all faces storage problem, 66.67 percent faces financial problem, 55.56 percent faces transportation problem and 22.22 percent faces the labour problem.

7. Conclusion The major findings of the study are that, if the organic tea growers efficiently use all the factors of production then it will bring a good remuneration to the cultivators. For this it should have the adequate pre- requirements for organic tea cultivation. In this analysis shows that an amount of green leaf directly sale by the growers due to lack of storage or basic machinery facilities, so it should reduce an amount of profit. Otherwise it is a good and profitable sector, also it has provide job opportunities as well as employment. The demand of organic tea is very high in global market though its price is high, because good quality products always have a better market demand.

References  Daneberga A. (2017): “Working at an organic tea estate in Darjeeling, India”, Qualitative study on the organic awareness, satisfaction and health among the workers of Makaibari Tea Estate  Hazra N.(2006): “ Organic Tea Cultivation and Marketing”, international Book Distribution Co., Charbagh, Lucknow, ISBN: 81-8189-129-7  Khanal R. (2012): "Organic tea cultivation" (a case study of tinjure tea farmer co-operative association ltd., phakphok, ilam), A thesis of Master of Arts, Department of Rural Development Mahendra Ratna multiple Campus Ilam, Nepal  Pettigrew J. & Richardson B.(2008): “Tea classified a tealover’s companion”, published by- National Trust Books, United Kingdom, ISBN: 9781905400645  Sudheer P. (2011 ): “Economics of Organic Farming: A Study in Andhra Pradesh”, A PhD thesis, Dept. of Economics, Andhra University.  Tea Board of India, Dibrugarh  http://apeda.gov.in/apedawebsite/organic/Organic_Products.htm

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