This topic will provide a basic outline about the tea industry

1. “Tea Industry in Assam:
A General Overview”
Swapnali Saikia
Jorhat, India

2. INTRODUCTION:
The state of Assam is the world's largest tea-
growing region, lying on either side of the
Brahmaputra River, and bordering Bangladesh and
Myanmar. This part of India experiences high
precipitation; during the monsoon period, as much
as 10 to 12 inches (250–300 mm) of rain per day.
The daytime temperature rises to about 103F (40
°C), creating greenhouse-like conditions of extreme
humidity and heat. This tropical climate contributes
to Assam's unique malty taste, a feature for which
this tea is well known.

3. The Tea industry in Assam is about 170 years
old. It occupies an important place and plays a very
special role in the State economy in particular and
in the national economy in general. The wild tea
plants were discovered in upper Brahmaputra
valley by Robert Bruce in 1823 and the first Indian
tea was sent to United Kingdom for public sale in
the year 1838. Thereafter tea cultivation was
extended to other parts of the country between 50‟s
and 60‟s of the last century. As of today, Assam Tea
has maintained its international reputation and
commands significant share in the world Tea
Market.

4. Tea of the agriculture-based industries, tea
occupies an important place in Assam. In Assam, tea
is grown both in the Brahmaputra and Barak plains.
Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sibsagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Na
gaon and Sonitpur are the districts where tea
gardens are mostly found. Assam produces 51% of
the tea produced in India and about 1/6th of the tea
produced in the world. The tea industry in Assam
also provides average daily employment to more
than six lakh persons in the State which is around 50
percent of the total average daily number of labour
employed in the country.

5. Study Area: Assam, India
Extension: 24˚3ˊN-
27˚58ˊN 89˚5ˊE96˚1ˊE
& -
Area: 78,438 sq. km
Population: 31169272
(2011 census)

6. OBJECTIVES:
•To show the present condition of tea
industry in Assam
•To identify the problems & prospects of
tea industry of Assam

7. METHODOLOGY:
The present study is both qualitative &
quantitative in nature. Information regarding the
topic in collected from various sources like
books, newspapers, magazines, official websites
etc. The collected data and information have
been analyzed with the help of appropriate
geographic methods & techniques.

8. ANALYSIS:
Tea manufacturing is one of the premier
industry of Assam. It plays a vital role in the
economy of the state. About 17 percent of the
workers of Assam are engaged in the tea industry.
The total area under tea cultivation in Assam is
accounting for more than half of the country‟s total
area under tea. In addition to existing big & large
tea gardens owned by reputed both Indian and
multinational Companies, the profession of tea
plantation in the State has taken up by common man
as business venture at present, especially by
unemployed youths.

9. According to the Tea Board of India, “there are
more than 43000 small tea growers in Assam
producing about nine percent of the State‟s total
annual production.” [State focus paper, Assam-2009-
l0 by NABARD]. As per Tea Board of India
information there are 52000 small tea growers in
Assam at the end of March 2009 out of which 3767
were registered with the Tea Board of India. The
small tea growers cover around 65000 hectares of
land and they produce more than 100 million tonne
of tea leaf annually [According to the All Assam
Small Tea Growers Association, there are 65466

10. small tea growers in Assam as on March 2008
and covers 103298 hectares of land. These small
tea growers produced 14185 lakh kgs. green tea
during the year 2007-08]. Most of the small tea
gardens in the State are confined to upper
Assam. Dibrugarh accounts for 30 percent of the
total tea gardens followed by Tinsukia 22
percent, Jorhat 13 percent, Golaghat 12 percent,
Sivasagar 11 percent and other districts contain
11 percent.

11. Assam alone produces more than half
of India‟s tea production. The estimated
production of tea in Assam was 511.9
thousand tonnes in 2007 which constitutes
more than 50 per cent of the total tea
production of the country. During the year
2006, the quantity of production of tea in
Assam was 502.0 thousand tonnes.

12. Tea Statistics of Assam and India:
Source: Economic Survey Assam 2009-10
Area under
Total Tea
No. of Tea Tea Average yield
Production
Gardens (in '000 (kg / hectare)
Year (in 000 kg.)
hectare)
Assam India Assam India Assam India Assam India
2001 40795 116659 269 510 453587 853923 1685 1675
2002 43272 127801 271 516 433327 838474 1601 1625
2003 43293 129027 272 520 434759 878129 1601 1690
2004 43293 129027 272 521 435649 892965 1603 1713
2005 49102 140712 301 556 487487 945974 1622 1703
2006 NA NA 312 567 502041 981805 1610 1732
2007 NA NA 321 578 511885 986427 1593 1705

13. District wise Area Under Tea in Assam:
(Figures in hectares)
Source: Tea Board, Guwahati
District 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Darrang 41037 41367 41693 41158 41300 41388 41677 41710
Goalpara 3460 3471 3523 3635 3643 4215 4451 4451
Kamrup 3442 3436 3454 3466 3460 3787 3782 3953
Lakhimpur 4815 4763 4793 4839 4873 6301 6724 6756
Dibrugarh 93076 93484 93698 95118 95118 114435 120489 122514
Nowgong 7994 8004 8041 8114 8135 8605 8709 8758
Sibsagar 74807 76113 76762 77135 77135 83971 88008 94611
Cachar 32008 32703 32775 32137 32149 31894 31805 32312
Karbi
1869 1748 1873 1923 1923 1885 2201 2185
Anlong
North
4004 4065 4071 4064 4032 4021 3976 4069
Cachar
Total
266512 269154 270683 271589 271768 300502 311822 321319
Assam

14. District-wise Production of Tea:
(In Thousand Kgs.)
Source: Tea Board, Guwahati
District 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Darrang 78224 75743 80291 80474 82281 83404 84976
Goalpara 6338 6031 6137 5665 5271 6327 6847
Kamrup 4588 4434 4333 4304 4021 3720 3982
Lakhimpur 9075 9079 8502 8280 8387 8993 9165
Dibrugarh 167047 159006 175339 178352 211376 223876 225321
@
Nowgaon 11836 11696 11587 10981 11821 10742 12429
Sibsagarh 119626 115243 100693 102192 113392 117231 118622
Cachar 49793 45569 41411 38757 44858 41832 44131
Karbi
1945 2186 2028 2012 1663 1682 1677
Anglong
North
5115 4340 4438 4632 4417 4234 4735
Cachar
Total
453587 433327 434759 435649 487487 502041 511885 487497
Assam

15. Month-wise Production of Tea in Assam, (2007-2008 and 2008-2009):
(Tonne)
Source : Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of Assam.
Month 2007-2008 2008-2009
April 33929 37711
May 49278 30852
June 50530 55666
July 61908 71969
August 52167 77555
September 85999 56991
October 67544 74139
November 53843 38643
December 19073 17976
January 4961 5919
February 1714 112
March 4738 16448
Total 485684 483981

16. District-wise Average Yield Rate of Tea:
(Figures in Kg/Hectares)
Source: Tea Board, Guwahati
District 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Darrang 1877 1891 1817 1951 1949 1988 2001 2037
Goalpara 1820 1826 1712 1688 1555 1251 1421 1538
Kamrup 1250 1335 1284 1250 1244 1062 984 1007
Lakhimpur 1883 1905 1894 1757 1699 1331 1337 1357
Dibrugarh 1756 1787 1697 1843 1875 1847 1858 1839
Nowgaon 1475 1479 1455 1428 1350 1374 1233 1419
Sibsagarh 1604 1572 1501 1305 1325 1350 1332 1254
Cachar 1537 1523 1390 1289 1206 1406 1315 1366
Karbi
1041 1113 1167 1055 1046 882 764 768
Anglong
North
1543 1258 1066 1092 1149 1098 1065 1164
Cachar
Total
1686 1685 1601 1601 1603 1622 1610 1593
Assam

17. Quantity and Average price of Tea Sold in the Guwahati Tea Centre:
Source: Economic Survey Assam 2009-10
Leaf Dust
CTC Orthodox CTC Orthodox
Year Averag
Quantit Averag Quantit Average Quantit Quantit Averag
e Price
y e Price y Price y y e Price
(Rs.
(million (Rs. per (million (Rs. per (million (million (Rs. per
per
Kg.) kg.) Kg.) kg.) Kg.) Kg.) kg.)
kg.)
2005 101.94 61.11 0.61 61.62 40.30 59.19 - -
2006 100.75 67.96 0.72 78.18 40.9 68.27 - -
2007 106.88 70.09 4.16 73.93 41.51 73.02 0.001 50.00
2008 110.14 90.20 0.56 92.39 41.99 95.73 - -
2009
(upto 40.88 102.61 0.24 94.94 14.09 106.79 - -
July)

18. Fig. 1:No. of total Tea Gardens in Assam
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

19. Fig.2: Area under Tea (in '000 hectare)
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

20. Fig. 3: Total tea production in Assam
520000
500000
480000
460000
Total Tea Production (in
440000 000 kg.)
420000
400000
380000
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

21. In its 166 years of old history, the tea industry
of Assam, for the first time, is going through one of
its worst phases. There have been decline in
export, stagnant of domestic production and
marketing in the Indian tea industry. According to an
expert committee report of the State Government in
October,2003 the important problems of the tea
industry of Assam are:
•Fall in tea prices
•Rise in production cost
•Labour productivity going down
•Increase in fuel cost

22. •Inadequate power supply
•Old machineries
•Decline exports
•Fall in production of quality tea
•Declining domestic consumption
The committee submitted its report on August
5, 2004 and recommended following measures for
improvement of the position of the State‟s tea
industry in the world market:
•All tea for sale should go through tea auction
center
•There should be amendment of tea marketing
control order

23. •To open tea auction center at Jorhat &
Dibrugarh
•Incentives to tea producers coming for tea
auction
•Orthodox tea production should be subsided
•Subsidy to replantation should be increased
•Promote organic tea cultivation

24. CONCLUSION:
Assam tea grown at sea level, is known for its
body, briskness, malty flavour and strong bright
color. Though Assam tea generally indicates the
distinctive black teas from Assam, the region also
produces relatively smaller quantities of green and
white tea as well with their own distinctive
characteristics. Assam is the world‟s single largest
tea growing region. At present Assam produces
about 55% of the country‟s total tea production.

25. The economic realization of the importance of tea
in Assam is a forgone conclusion. Along with the
organized sector the proliferation of small tea
cultivation in Assam has created vast employment
opportunities in the rural areas giving economic
impetus as well as employment generation.
The Government of India has created a
Special Purpose Tea Fund (SPTF) which is meant
for rejuvenation of tea bushes. This will benefit
about 700-800 tea gardens of the state. In an
important policy decision – the Government has
decided to secure a geographical indication for the
tea produced in the state.

26. „Assam Tea‟ will be known as „Assam
Orthodox Tea‟ once the geographical indication
is secured, thus making it an exclusive
commodity and raising its stakes in the global
market. Very recently in this year the State
Government decided to launch a “A CHAI
BAR” in Guwahati to popular „Assam Tea‟
among the domestic and foreign tourists.

27. THANK YOU