KATHMANDU: National Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB) is set to collect the data related to Nepali tea industry including the number of tea farmers, estates and manufacturers. Board with the collaboration of Central Bureau of Statistics, will collect the data in 12 districts of the country where tea farming is being carried out. The data collection will begin after a couple of days and will be concluded before mid-March. Board Planning Officer Gaurab Luitel said that the data collection would not only help ascertain the number of farmers, tea estates and manufacturers, but also would help to calculate the yearly tea production. “We also want to know how tea farming is helping the farmers economically and how it is creating jobs for people,“ said Luitel. This kind of counting is being carried out for the first time in the country, informed Luitel, who believes such activity will further contribute to planning methods to increase tea production in the country. “We don’t know exactly how farmers are benefitting from the farming or about their expenses and profit. Once we are clear on these matters, we can formulate the plans for betterment of the situation,” added Luitel. The first phase of counting will be conducted in Eastern districts of the country including Ilam, Jhapa, Panchthar, Terathum, Dhankuta, Taplejung and Sankhuwasabha. Likewise, the second phase counting will be carried out in Lalitpur, Sindhupalchowk, Kaski and Lamjung. “If somebody claims that tea farming is being conducted in their district, we will add those districts in the counting process after verifying their claims,” further added Luitel. Since Nepali tea received its own trademark last week, such counting would help the Board to identify the number of manufacturers eligible to use that trademark, informed Luitel.