Tamil Nadu to set up tea testing, storage centres for small growers

EDAKKAD (TN): To give an impetus to the tea industry in the State, Tamil Nadu Government would set up a Rs 15-crore tea cluster Common Facilitation Centre near Mettupalayam in Coimbatore district, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said here on Friday.

The centre will have a laboratory to test tea, necessary storage and packaging and marketing for the benefit of the industry, particularly small growers, she said at the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Kundha Industrial Cooperative Tea Factory.

She said the State Government would set up a Rs 5-crore cooperative tea factory in Nanjanad for the benefit of small growers and locals.

Jayalalithaa said as part of steps to boost industry, the AIADMK government had introduced sale of tea powder through PDS under “Ooty Tea” brand. Total sales in the last 12 years was about 317 lakh kg, worth Rs 280 crore, she said.

The government had given an increase of Rs 2 a kg for tea leaves, by which 22,000 farmers benefited to the tune of Rs 17.20 crore.

To increase productivity of tea, the State Government had provided Rs 5.12 crore for 15 tea factories in the cooperative sector in the district, for modernisation and development, she said.