D Hukiye Kibami
I stand before you to speak a few lines on behalf of The Small Tea Grower's of Nagaland. You might be aware that the people of Nagaland like the other hill tribes of North East India have been drinking tea since time immemorial. Even today, tea happens to be the most preferred beverages among the Nagas. The soil characteristic, the climate, the rainfall etc provide the ideal conditions for growing tea in Nagaland.
Ladies and Gentleman, you are aware that most of the hill tribe in NE India use shifting cultivation for their livelihood and Nagaland is no exception. However the practice is waning for people have realized that on today's context the practice is not viable and besides, the ecology also gets disturbed because of such practice. Keeping this in view a section of forward looking Nagas took up organised tea cultivation way back in the late seventies as an alternate means of livelihood. Late Mr.Sashimeren Aier (Rtd. Development Commissioner) was such a pioneer. Mr Toluvi Kibami (Rtd. CCDU/Chief Engineer, PHED) my late brother also initiated tea cultivation in the 1990's. It is reported that some tea manufactured in the late seventies were valued at as high as Rs.200/-per Kg. This was an indication that Nagaland has the potential for high quality teas. However, that was all what was heard about Nagaland teas. Even today i.e. after 40 years, tea growing in Nagaland has almost remained a non-starter.
Some entrepreneurs with never say die attitude however did not give up and carried on with their obsession of growing tea in Nagaland. They pulled all their resources available with them and continued with their endeavour. Today, several parts of Nagaland-Mokokchung, Zunheboto, Mon, Tuensang, Dimapur, Phek etc grow some sizeable tea.
We the STG's of the country account for about 30% of the total produce but the plights of the STG's are pitiable at best. Many even do not have the ownership of the land. They do not have their own manufacturing facilities and depend upon the conventional and bought leaf factories (BLF).This has exposed them to exploitation. In Nagaland the case is even worse.
* We do not have any manufacturing facility as such we have to send our leaves to the factories located at the foothills. This involves travel of 3-4 hours through hilly terrain. As a result the leaf suffers extensive damage and is discounted.
* The price per unit weight of tea is not remunerative.
* Many a time the farmer’s skiff off the leaf and the leaf is either thrown away or sent for hand manufacture through crude process. Such teas are hardly saleable.
* The Tea Board has stopped plantation subsidy in Nagaland since 2005.This has caused great stress to the farmers-many of them are on the verge of starvation. The ANSTGA took up the problem with Tea Board who then conducted a survey of genuine plantation in Nagaland through application of Global Positioning System (GPS technology).However many of the officials who used the GPS equipment were not adept with the technology and may be because of this their assessment varied with the earlier assessment of their own officials. The Board divided grant some subsidy based on the GPS finding which did not convince he farmers and stalemate continues. We have through several communication to the Board have expressed our reservation on use of GPS. Besides, it appeared many of the officials were not even conversant with the equipments.
* Therefore, the association has decided to seek natural justice through the honourable High Court of Guwahati-Kohima bench. It is in the process under the court.
* We also feel that we should have access to mini-manufacturing facility like the Chinese have in their country. Such facility if made available will completely change the socio-economic status of the STG’s. It may be mentioned that in China, tea manufacturing has almost become a cottage industry.
Under the aforementioned circumstances, I would like to sum up the follows, our immediate necessities.
i) Restoration subsidy on a regular basis to the genuine farmers.
ii) Permission for starting factories.
iii) Providing fund by the Govt. Agencies for starting such factories.
iv) Provide necessary training to develop the skill for cultivation and manufacture.
v) Provide technology for small scale tea factories.
vi) Provide marketing network for selling the teas.
The proof of pudding is in the eating. The farmers would like to see what their end product is like. Unless they are provided with their own manufacturing facility, their interest will wane and they will lose all interest which may lead to premature death of the industry in Nagaland.
I thank the organizers for extending their kind invitation and for giving me an opportunity to present our views.
(D. Hukiye Kibami is the President of the All Nagaland Small Tea Grower’s Association and the above writing is the speech presented on March 21, 2012 during the inauguration of brochure of Confederation of Indian Small Tea Grower's Association
held at Guwahati, Assam)
