Plan to support small tea growers

Kolkata: The Indian Tea Association, the oldest organisation of tea producers in India, in collaboration with Solidaridad Asia, an organisation that promotes sustainable production of agricultural commodities, launched Trinitea, a project to help small tea growers.

Solidaridad Asia, is a global sustainability organisation which has extensive experience in providing sustainability and training programmes to several international projects covering tea as well as other commodities.

Trinitea seeks to provide round the year on-ground training to improve

agronomical, social and environmental practices of small tea growers.

Solidaridad Asia and Indian Tea Association will implement Trinitea, a digital self-assessment application, which was launched on Thursday, marking a new chapter in the history of the industry.

Solidaridad Asia has developed the android-based digital training tool for the farmers in the

local language, for virtual training. The organisation will promote high quality and safe tea production by small tea growers in domestic and international markets.

Indian Tea Association has signed MoUs with the major Small Tea Growers Associations in Assam and Bengal.

Elaborating on the benefits of Trinitea, Indian Tea Association chairman Vivek Goenka said: "The programme will facilitate the Indian tea

industry to be future ready for the new-age customer demands. In recent times, several producers in the traditional sector, including Indian Tea Association members, have increased

their stakes in sourcing green leaf to complement their production."

The small tea grower's produce has the potential to make a mark in the global market and boost its exports in the long run. This is in sync with the agri-export policy declared by the Government of

India, recently. Forging partnership between the large traditional sector and the small tea growing community would mutually benefit both the sectors.

Arijit Raha, Secretary General, Indian Tea Association, said: "The programme seeks to support the initiatives by the industry to increase exports of high-quality tea from India. In December last year, a high-level delegation of China Tea Marketing Association, led by its chairman, Wang Qing, visited India and signed an MoU with the Indian Tea Association. The MoU recognised the Trinitea and China National Guideline for Sustainable Tea as a framework for sustainability in tea production and trade between the two countries."