Abdul Baset, Panchagarh
Small-scale tea growers and garden owners in the plains of Panchagarh are happy to receive good prices for fresh green tea leaves. For the past few years, small tea growers and garden owners had been deprived of fair prices due to the activities of business syndicates.
However, at a joint meeting held at the Panchagarh Deputy Commissioner’s office at the beginning of this year, involving garden owners, small tea growers, factory owners and officials of the Tea Board, the minimum price of fresh green tea leaves was fixed at Tk 28 per kg. Since then, tea growers have not faced a fall in prices.
At present, growers are selling fresh tea leaves for around Tk 40 to Tk 50 per kg, making them quite happy.
According to information from the Panchagarh office of the Bangladesh Tea Board, there are 8,401 small tea gardens in five of the eight districts of Rangpur division — Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Dinajpur, Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat. Tea is being cultivated on 11 lakh 599.89 acres of land in the plains.
Of these, there are 12 large registered tea gardens and 18 unregistered tea gardens. In addition, there are 2,225 registered small tea gardens and 6,146 unregistered small tea gardens.
These gardens have produced a total of 9 crore 77 lakh 46 thousand 611 kg of fresh green tea leaves. From the green leaves produced, a total of 2 crore 2 lakh 42 thousand 52 kg of processed tea has been produced at 31 tea factories — 30 in Panchagarh and one in Thakurgaon.
Jamal Uddin, a small tea grower from Sariyaljot village, said he had cultivated tea on 30 decimals of land.
“Compared with other seasons, the incidence of lofa and red mite diseases has increased this year. We also suffered because fertiliser and pesticides were not available at the right time. We, the tea growers in the plains, became desperate to protect our gardens. If the current market price remains stable, we will be able to make up for our losses,” he said.
Rais Uddin of Darzipara village said, “If the government does not import tea leaves from neighbouring India, growers in the plains will receive a fair price for fresh green leaves.”
Tea growers Moslim Uddin and Najib Uddin of Tetulia upazila said many tea workers were bitten by snakes while plucking leaves in the gardens. They said antivenom was not available at the district headquarters and upazila hospitals for proper treatment, resulting in the deaths of many workers and discouraging others from working in the gardens.
They said garden owners would benefit if proper treatment facilities were ensured for tea workers. #EK
