Tea quality to be improved

By Prem Adhikari, Pashupatinagar, Aug. 28: The Nepali tea market is in a dilemma at the moment. Tea farmers and industrialists are now looking for alternatives at a time when 90 per cent of the tea exported to India faces problems in the Indian market. 

The problem arises after the news reports that India had stopped tea import from Nepal saying Nepali the tea was not of good quality. After the problem, people in the tea sector are currently looking for quality improvement along with marketing.

The Nepali tea industry is currently working to improve the quality of the tea and export to third countries as there has been a problem with tea export to India. 

Suryodaya Municipality of Ilam is the most tea-producing area in the district and is considered the capital of tea. 

Discussions are ongoing between Suryodaya Municipality, National Tea and Coffee Development Board, Suryodaya Tea Producers Association, tea cooperatives, and representatives of industries as well as farmers. The tea problem-solving committee formed by Suryodaya Municipality is hollding frequent discussions with stakeholders these days.

Ban of pesticides

In the discussion held at the initiative of the National Tea and Coffee Development Board, the stakeholders are ready to produce organic tea by banning the use of pesticides.

After India found high degree of pesticides in Nepali tea, the tea stakeholders agreed to formulate an Action Plan to control the pesticides.

Sonam Palmo, Field Supervisor of Sundarpani Tea Production Cooperative, which is producing and promoting organic tea, said that instead of blaming others for not importing tea, there should be an improvement from one’s side. 

He said, “We need to improve the tea plant itself, there is no shortage of market.” Palmo said that if we can improve the planting, cutting, picking and processing of tea, there will be no problem in tea export. The tea produced by Sundarpani is still being exported to third countries.

To improve the quality of tea, stakeholders have agreed to purchase only tea of ​​three leaves and one bud. To maintain the quality of Nepali tea by looking at the international standards, it was agreed that the farmers should give the tea with three leaves and one bud to the industry and only such tea will be purchased by the industry. 

Suryodaya Municipality has fixed the minimum support price for green leaves at Rs. 40 as per the Action Plan.