The Tea Board of India, a statutory body established under the Tea Act, 1953, has intervened in the ongoing crisis of non-remunerative prices being paid to small tea growers (STGs) for green leaves. 

• The prices had reportedly dropped as low as ₹11 per kilogram in some areas, causing severe hardship and supply chain disruption. 
• The Board’s new directives aim to enforce transparency and compliance in transactions between STGs and manufacturing units.

Mandatory Steps for Price Transparency

To counter the manufacturers’ claim of poor quality justifying low prices, the Tea Board has issued the following directives:

• Mandatory Record Keeping: Every registered tea manufacturer must maintain a separate signed register detailing the supplier’s address, the daily quantity of green leaf purchased, and the corresponding fine leaf count.
• The Ballometric Method: The fine leaf count—a measure of the percentage of high-quality young leaves and buds—must now be determined using the ‘ballometric’ method. 
  • This must be done in the presence of the green leaf supplier to ensure fairness.
  • Ballometric Method is a scientific technique developed by the Tea Research Association for measuring the percentage of young leaves and buds in a harvest.
• Compliance and Penalty: Both the manufacturer and the supplier are required to sign the register, which will be subject to regular inspection by the Tea Board. 
  • Errant manufacturing units face stringent action, including the suspension of their licenses, for non-compliance with the prescribed Average Green Leaf Price (AGLP) guidelines.
• Statutory Framework: The enforcement mechanism is rooted in the Tea Marketing Control Order (TMCO), which mandates that the price paid to small growers be determined based on a price sharing formula linked to the average auction price of processed tea.

The STG Crisis 

Small Tea Growers (STGs) now account for nearly 50% of India’s total tea production, making them critical to the industry. Their complaints highlight systemic issues, including:

• Price Volatility: STGs are often “price-takers,” vulnerable to market fluctuations and the pricing decisions of large Bought Leaf Factories (BLFs).
• The Quality Dispute: Manufacturers often cite poor quality plucking as the reason for low prices. The ballometric method provides a transparent, scientific metric to settle this dispute, which is essential for better price realisation.

This intervention is a crucial regulatory step to protect the livelihoods of small growers and ensure the long-term quality and sustainability of Indian tea in the global market.

Exam Hook: Prelims Question

Q. With reference to the recent Tea Board directives on green leaf pricing, consider the following statements:

1. The directives mandate the use of the ‘ballometric’ method, a technique developed by the Tea Research Association (TRA), to measure fine leaf count.
2. The ballometric method is designed to provide a transparent measure of the volume of green leaf, irrespective of the fine leaf percentage.
3. Manufacturing units that fail to pay the Average Green Leaf Price (AGLP) as per the Tea Board’s guidelines may face license suspension under the Tea Marketing Control Order (TMCO).

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (A) 1 only (B) 2 and 3 only (C) 1 and 3 only (D) 1, 2, and 3

Correct Answer: (C) 1 and 3 only

(Statement 2 is incorrect. The ballometric method is specifically designed to measure the percentage of fine leaves (quality), not just the volume.)

One Line Wrap: The Tea Board’s mandatory adoption of the TRA-developed ‘ballometric’ method for assessing green leaf quality is a critical step to enforce price transparency and safeguard the financial interests of small tea growers under the Tea Marketing Control Order.

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