Himalayan News Service

Ilam, July 19:

Tea planters in Ilam have complained that the government is not extending them necessary cooperation. They would be losing hundreds of thousands of rupees borrowed from banks, as the government is not showing any interest to promote green leaves in the market, they said.

The production of green tea leaves is on the rise every year, but its market is not stable and as a result, they are suffering, farmers complained. The production volume is so large that it is beyond the capacity of local industries to use them and Indian traders too are not paying reasonable prices, president of the eastern tea small farmers association, L B Kattel said. Although there are eight tea industries, they have no capacity to consume all the green tea leaves. Tea farmers are being forced to sell their produce to Indian traders at a price fixed by them, a local farmer Kul Prasad Limbu said. The current price offered by local tea industries for green tea leaves is Rs 12 to Rs 16 a kg while it was Rs 35 a kg three years ago. The price is just enough to cover the cost price, another farmer Prem Lal Rai said.

“Everyone decided to plant tea after the government offered loans at a concessional rate. Now the situation is that we will be forced to root them out by borrowing loans once again if the price continues to slide down,” he said. According to the Agriculture Development Bank, Ilam, a total of Rs 110 million as loan has been invested on tea plantations alone. But recovery

of loan is negligible as compared to the huge investment, bank manager Yuba Raj Niraula said. The government itself has to make plans for marketing, he added. Meanwhile, the Himalayan Orthodox Tea Producers Association ( HOTPA) with the objective of solving marketing problems of farmers, has started lobbying for the market, an employee of the association, Ananta Rai said.