Small tea growers across the country have sought recognition as “agricultural farmers,” a status that they do not enjoy so far.

“There are around two-and-a-half lakh tea growers across the country who contribute around 53 per cent of the total tea produced in India,” said Bijoygopal Chakraborty, president of the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Associations (Cista).

“They are no different from farmers as they grow tea leaves at their plantations which are in rural areas. However, they have not been recognised as agricultural farmers, a status which they need for their socio-economic development,” Chakraborty said.

On Monday, Chakraborty sent a letter to Shivraj Singh Chauhan, the Union minister for agriculture and farmers’ welfare, requesting him to consider the demand of small tea growers to be recognised as farmers.

He elaborated on the reasons why, stressing that tea growers miss out on government benefits that farmers enjoy.

“As the small tea growers are not considered to be traditional agricultural farmers, they do not get any benefit like other farmers, ranging from crop insurance to agricultural loans to subsidies. The central government has come up with an array of schemes to help the agricultural sector the small tea sector continues to remain outside the purview of these schemes,” he added.

A senior tea grower based in the Siliguri subdivision said that the Centre was emphasising on the formation of a farmers’ producer company (FPC), an initiative of a collective to enhance the income of farmers.

“On average, the land held by a small tea grower measures less than a hectare. There is no reason why we can’t be considered farmers. But we, as tea growers, cannot form FPCs,” he said.

The grower mentioned that according to the existing scheme for the formation of FPC, it has to be registered under a specific portal where the farmer’s card issued by the state agriculture department is acknowledged.

“The tea board has issued smart identification cards for us. But those are not acknowledged in the portal. We hope the agriculture minister will look into it,” the small tea grower added.