TOWARDS EVOLVING A MORE EFFECTIVE R&D AND EXTENSION SYSTEM IN TEA: A priliminary explanation of North India

Abstract

This study is about the R&D and extension system in North Indian tea focusing on Tocklai Tea Research Institute within the innovation system framework wherein innovation is conceived as a process of learning through interaction between different stakeholders along with R&D effort which is governed by the institutional context. TTRI has an elaborate R&D system wherein ten research divisions have been established to deal with almost all aspects of tea industry. However, it appears that that the innovation system in general and the research agenda in particular has not successfully coevolved in tune with the emerging challenges. In particular, issues relating to processing, packaging and changing consumer preferences seems to have not received the attention that they deserve. Overtime, TTRI has transformed itself from a primarily estate-funded organisation to one with significant reliance on grants from the Tea Board. However, the study finds very low R&D intensity along the sharp fluctuations in the two major sources of funding (grants from Tea Board and member subscription) indicating the absence of a steady and assured support for R&D, an activity involving substantial uncertainty. Since the research system has not been able to rise up to the challenges, the emerging trend appears to be one wherein the industry’s interaction with the research system is declining as is evident from the sharp decline in the number of annual scientific Committee, meetings, the number of members attending such meeting, number of training cum demonstrations held and number of participants therein and finally on the number of advisory visits. Analysis of the research agenda setting and the nature and extent of interaction with different actors in the research system tends to suggest that the nature of interaction that exists today is highly lop-sided, mainly, confining to the large planters. The small growers are totally excluded. It appears that given the lop-sided interaction, the research agenda tends to get focused excessively on the short-term considerations and challenges faced by the planters and the system is constrained to address the long-term considerations which would also involve substantial basic research. No wonder, though the system has been able to come up with different clones overtime, a clone that evolved in 1949 still dominates the sector. There has not been any significant increase in the productivity either. The index of production per hectare of tea (with 1970 =100) has hardly shown any significant increase and in fact showed downward trend since the mid-1990s. This compares very poorly with that of natural rubber. From the policy perspective, there is the need for substantial internal restructuring of R&D and extension activities with greater attention to processing and enabling the industry to cope with new certification standards along scaling up the R&D and extension activities. The study also underscores the need for developing stronger linkage with other knowledge producing centers and other actors, both within and outside the country. We are also inclined to infer that the interactive system has to be made more balanced wherein the role of Tea Board cannot be reduced simply to the provider of research grants. Since the Tea Board has the mandate of building an internationally competitive and vibrant tea sector it has to ensure that a long term perspective is built into the research agenda. At a more general level, drawing from the earlier research of NRPPD, we believe that the plantation sector today is confronted with more challenges than ever before. While many of these challenges are similar across different plantation crops and mutual learning possibilities are immense, the present mode of organizing research - one institution one crop – perhaps leads to duplication of efforts. Such narrow crop level specialization has the potential danger of foregoing learning opportunities from the experience of other crops and forgoing economies of scale and scope, which is inherent in the production of innovations as well. Hence, it is high time to think in terms of bringing all these research institutes under one organization with appropriate governance structure by effectively harnessing the information and technology.