Abstract:
Small tea plantations were in vogue in India since early 1960s.
They were mainly concentrated in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.
It was only during the late 1980s or early 1990s they started spreading
to North-Eastern states such as Assam and West Bengal. The smallholders
are unorganized and operate in fragmented landholdings. They face
challenges of landownership regulations and related procedural
problems. Technical know-how on tea husbandry and cultivation is
very low and the integration of this unorganised sector with the
plantation industry seems to be a challenging task. At present various
agencies such as Smallholders Associations, Primary Producing
Societies (SHGs), Bought-Leaf Factories (BLFs), and Co-operative
Factories (CPFs) exist in the 15 small tea growing states. However,
most of these agencies are found to be ineffective due to the lack of
proper co-ordination and collective action in an integrated manner. By
analysing organisational innovations like BLFs, CPFs, SHGs,
Federations-Associations-Confederations against the back drop of the
emergence of Small Tea Growers (STGs) and their national and regional
growth pattern, the present study try to identify the gaps in the existing
policies and suggests new areas of research.