Kathmandu, August 4:

Nepali tea industry has formulated a Code of Conduct (CoC) in a bid to advance its market segment of orthodox tea and counter the bad publicity over the inferior quality of its tea in the global market.

CoC is a tool to enhance competitiveness of Nepal tea while respecting the nature and small tea growers. Considering the increased market potential of Nepali Orthodox Tea, Tea Development Alliance (TDA) that comprises of Agro Enterprises Centre (AEC) of FNCCI, Himalayan Orthodox Tea Producers Association (HOTPA), Himalayan Tea Producers Cooperative (HIMCOOP), Nepal Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB), SNV Nepal, GTZ/PSP and Winrock International/USAID jointly endorsed the CoC and released it today in the presence of journalists.

Tea experts said that Nepal Tea CoC is a self-policing mechanism for safeguarding the interest of people and nature spearheaded by orthodox tea industry stakeholders.

CoC is a branding exercise among producers and an attempt to sell tea at a better prices in the international marketplace, said experts.

Deepak Prakash Baskota, chairperson of TDA at the CoC, announcement in the function that as the tea industry in Nepal has already begun to implement quality standardisation as a tool, Nepal has become the first country in the world to self-police a sub-sector for increasing its competitiveness.

He said that the initiative will not only go a long way in Nepal’s well-coordinated efforts to brand Nepali Tea, but will also encourage tea growers around the world to practice Nepal CoC system, he said.

However, farmers present in the interaction expressed their wonder that while farmers are suffering from inability to repay their loans to the agricultural development bank and are not getting proper prices for their tea, what can the introduction of CoC mean to them.

While big industrialists are getting waiver on interest for their loans, why can’t Nepal government give rebate on loans taken by farmers, they questioned.