The Tripura Tea Development Corporation (TTDC) plans to start their own tea auction centres so that they don’t have to be dependent on Guwahati and Calcutta auction centres.
Tripura produces around 35 million kg tea annually, most of which is sent to Assam and Bengal for auction trading.
From the 58 tea gardens operating in Tripura, the corporation runs only three – at Kamalasagar and Brahmakunda in West Tripura and another at Maachmara in North Tripura.
Apart from this, 42 are individually owned tea gardens and 13 are run by cooperative societies. Nearly 3,000 small tea growers also operate in the state. According to reports, 6,885 hectares is under tea cultivation in the state.
After processing, around 88 lakh kg made tea is generated annually in several processing plants.
The Hiracherra tea estate in present Unakoti district was the first garden set up in the state in 1916, reports The Telegraph.
Tea Board of India assistant director (tea development) Diganta Barman recently said efforts were being made to turn the industry into a profit-making sector. He said work was being done to choose a logo for Tripura tea.