PASIGHAT, Feb 14: Agriculture & Horticulture Minister Tage Taki today said that tea growers in the state should move towards becoming fully organic in their cultivation methods.
He was speaking at the first Arunachal Tea Festival held here at The Lhoba Resort on the banks of the Siang in the outskirts of Pasighat town in East Siang district.
Organised by the Arunachal Pradesh Agriculture Marketing Board (APAMB), the Arunachal Tea Festival brought together tea growers, promoters, and enthusiasts from across the state. The festival organisers said that it was aimed to not just celebrate the legacy of tea cultivation of the state but also to provide a platform for tea cultivators to exchange ideas from each other and learn ways to improve their products.
At the formal part of the event, Taki said that it was a historic day for the state and that tea growers should use the platform to learn from each other.
He also encouraged the use of organic tea cultivation methods.
"We should not be left behind as the world moves to organic cultivation," he said.
Taki also said that growers should learn about economically feasible cultivation methods such as smaller plantations, and to inform the government about the challenges & suggestions that they may have.
Notably, he was also critical of some of the existing forest-related policies of the country, stating that currently they do not support harnessing of forest products when speaking about the delays in obtaining forest clearances for tea plantations.
Earlier, director of agriculture Anong Lego, had said that tea growers in the state have not been able to avail benefits from the Tea Board of India due to hurdles in obtaining certain forest clearances.
He also informed that around 150 hectares of tea plantations in the state are currently growing their tea organically, i.e, without the use of chemical fertilizers.
Following a tea tasting session with Romen Gogoi, senior tea taster with the Tea Research Association of the Jorhat-based Tocklai Tea Research Institute, tips were given to tea growers about how to improve their end products.
Gogoi later said that the organic tag must mean continued practice of organic methods.
While he did point to certain areas of improvement, Gogoi said that overall the produce of the state is of good quality.
On the policy front, he said that such events like the Arunachal Tea Festival need to be held regularly and that experts need to be brought in on a regular basis to train & provide feedback to te growers to help them with the cultivation & processing of tea.
A representative of a tea estate here said that there were many challenges to the growth of the sector in the state, including an alleged lack of support from the Tea Board of India. 
Session were also held on ‘Marketing of Tea for Tea Blenders in Arunachal/NER by M-Junction’ by tea taster Rituraj Hazarika, the branch head of the Jorhat Tea E-Marketplace that manages the Jorhat Tea Auction Centre, and tea blending with assistant professor of the Assam Agricultural University Dr Diganta Kumar Bora, in charge of its Tea Processing Unit in the Tea Husbandry & Technology.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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