The small tea growers in north Bengal will join hands to build five bought-leaf factories (BLFs) for tea processing in the region, with financial assistance from the state and the central governments.

On Sunday, a meeting was held in Jalpaiguri where it was decided that self-help groups or cooperative societies of growers would make these factories – standalone tea processing units – under the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME) introduced by the Union ministry of food processing industries.

“Altogether, around ₹50 crore would be invested for these tea processing units of BLFs. These factories will help the small growers to process tea leaves grown on their plantations. In turn, the tea would be sold through auctions and other channels. As the growers will run these factories, they will get better prices for their tea leaves,” said Bijoygopal Chakraborty, president, Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Associations (Cista), a national-level apex body of small growers of the country.

The factories will come up in Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, and Cooch Behar districts. “We have received some proposals from the growers and working on those in association with the departments concerned of the state and the Centre,” he added.

Chakraborty said that under the PMFME scheme, the growers will have to contribute 30 per cent of the project’s cost. Of the remaining investment needed, the Centre will pay 60 per cent while the state will pay the remaining 40 per cent.

In north Bengal, there are around 50,000 small tea growers who produce over half of the tea made in the region.

“Time and again, growers face the problem of lower price realization of their tea leaves which reduces their earnings. In fact, on certain occasions, tea leaves fetch prices that are lower than even the production cost. We believe the introduction of such BLFs will improve the situation,” said Rajat Roy Karji, president of the Jalpaiguri District Small Tea Growers Association.

Along with the growers, officials of PMFME and state food processing industries were present at the meeting.

“The growers can form SHGs or cooperatives to avail benefits of the scheme. We want more small growers to take necessary initiatives in this regard,” said Sandip Saha, the lead project officer of the Bengal chapter of PMFME.

Arunabha Baul, the food processing industry development officer of the state directorate of food processing industries, was also there at the meeting.

“We apprised the small tea growers of these three districts about the benefits of the scheme. If implemented in the small tea sector of north Bengal, it will help in the growth of the sector and the tea industry as a whole,” Baul, who is posted in Siliguri, said.