The Hindu Business Line : Darjeeling tea belt to be designated as AEZ

THE area covering 87 tea gardens of Darjeeling has finally been converted into an agricultural export zone (AEZ). Necessary formalities are currently being worked out by the Union and West Bengal Governments.

Though the process had begun a few months back on the recommendation of the Darjeeling Planters Association (DPA), the formal announcement was made by Dr Sabyasachi Sen, Commerce and Industry Secretary, Government of West Bengal, at the 16th annual general meeting of the association held here on Friday.

According to Dr Sen, the Union Government had asked for a written commitment from the State Government on the transformation of the Darjeeling tea growing area into an AEZ. "We have written back that we are firmly committed on this issue," he said.

With this development, the Darjeeling tea gardens are expected to get better facilities in respect of support and infrastructure development from the government.

However, tax benefits for the gardens were totally ruled out by Dr Sen.

Instead, he assured that West Bengal would try to create better infrastructure for export of Darjeeling tea and that it would be done after consulting with the tea garden owners.

Once transformed into an AEZ, Darjeeling tea sector would directly come under the ambit of APEDA (Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority). The planters can expect support from APEDA on a regular basis.

The issue of rejuvenation and replantation of tea bushes was also discussed. While Dr Sen said that the State Government sought the Union Government's support on this issue, he suggested that there should be a carrot-and-stick policy.

The Indian Tea Association (ITA) along with the Tea Board has already suggested a Rs 1,000-crore corpus for this activity.

According to Mr N.K. Das, Chairman of Tea Board, SBI Caps has been appointed to do a study on the nitty-gritties of the proposed corpus.

In an effort to increase production and productivity of Darjeeling teas, he has asked planters to find out the existing vacant lands in each estate. According to him, almost 8,000 hectares are lying idle in 20,000 hectares of the existing plantation land.

He termed 2004 as a good year for the Darjeeling tea industry as prices were higher than the previous year. He also updated the DPA members of the development of the registration of Darjeeling in other countries after recognition as a GI (Geographical Indication).

Mr K. David, the outgoing chairman of the association, was critical of his colleagues in the industry.

He felt that each planter was terribly competing with the other which had resulted in under pricing of the products.

"We have not marketed Darjeeling properly. We are busy underselling Darjeeling. There is tremendous potential and the opportunity is enormous," Mr David said.

In this context, he said, there is an immediate need for benchmarking Darjeeling tea.

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