Production glut hits tea farmers

Kalpetta: There is a glut in the production of tea leaves now after the tea sector was hit by production shortage during the floods in August. The tea farmers in Wayanad are finding it difficult to sell tea leaves and incurring heavy losses due to excess production, it is said.

Earlier, there was a dip in production up to 80 percent, but now the ideal climate has resulted in a bumper harvest.

There was thin flow of green leaf even during the rainy season in July, but by the second half of August, the arrivals became almost nil, leading to temporary closure of tea factories and suppliers cutting leaf collection routes and centres, it is said.

Most of the agents are now reluctant to collect leaf leaving the farmers high and dry. According to the Kayyunni Small Tea Growers' Association (KSTGA), a farmers' society at Kayunni, the farmers had lost the crop of an entire month. "In June, we had green leaf production of more than 100,000 (1 lakh) kg which came down to some 20,000 kg in August," he added. "But neither the state government nor agencies like Tea Board are considering the hardship of tea farmers as the plants are not submerged in floods," he said.

Though the floods did not destroy the plants, the harvest was hit as the plants got frozen due to torrential rain, say farmers. The micro tea factory of Wayanad Green Tea Producers Company Limited, a farmers' producer company, had to suspend production due to shortage of leaf for many weeks while major plantation groups were struggling to source tea leaf.  "But all these units are are unable to process the heaps of green leaf due to sudden jump in production," said CEO of the company Jose Sebastian. "Though one month back we were not getting adequate leaf for tea production, now the farmers are unable to sell the leaf," he said. All the factories are full and buyers are transporting 'tea leaf' to far away spots like Kothagiri and Coonoor.

From Periya, close to the border of Kannur, the leaf has been shifted to Ootty and Kothagiri, almost 250 km from the harvest spot, said Saji Joseph of MK Group, a green leaf agent in Manathavadi. "Most of the tea factories here are full and there is no way but to carry off the leaves to where production is less," he said. Even Munnar region was also facing excess production. "Many leaf collection agents send leaf to Munnar, but for the last many days these agents are finding it difficult to sell leaf as the tea factories of Munnar are having the problem of plenty," he added.