HP to double tea production in next 5 years: Agri minister
DHARAMSHALA: Hoping to revive the tea industry, the Himachal Pradesh government has formulated an action plan to double tea production in the state over the next five years.
In 2021-22, the state produced around 10-lakh kilogrammes of tea. “We plan to increase tea production to around 20 lakh kilogrammes over the next five years,” said agriculture minister Virender Kanwar. Tea is cultivated over 2,310 hectares on the foothills of the Dhauladhar mountain range. “To expand the area under tea cultivation, Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, Palampur, has planted 800 saplings at its agriculture research stations at Malan, Kangra, Bara, Barthin, Sundernagar, Bajaura and Dhaulakuan to explore the scope of tea cultivation in a non-traditional area. Orchard integration of tea is also being explored to offset area loss,” he said.
“An additional area of 5.6 hectares was brought under cultivation during 2021-22 and the government is hoping to expand it to 100 hectares over the next five years,” he said. The tea industry contributed around ₹20 crore to the Himachal economy in the last financial year, providing direct and indirect employment to around 5,000 people.
Kangra tea is mostly exported to foreign countries through the dealers at Kolkata.
Only 10% of the tea is sold within the state, while 90% goes to an auction centre in Kolkata. “Around 4,000kg of Kangra tea was exported in 2021-22, primarily to Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia and France. We hope to increase exports to 20% of the production over the next five years,” said Kanwar.
Kangra Tea was sold at ₹160/ kg at the Kolkata auction centre last year, while it fetched ₹400/ kg in the domestic market. Around 5,900 families in the state depend on tea cultivation for their livelihood
“Tea growers will be given 50% subsidy on machinery required for plucking and pruning, which will help manage labour shortage, one of the major problems faced by tea planters,” said Kanwar. The agriculture department is also organising awareness training programmes to impart the latest technical know-how.