The marginal tea planters in the plains of North Bengal especially in the Terai and Dooars regions scattered over Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar districts are facing a crisis.

The crisis is not just because of the usual negative factors like rising production costs among others. The major problem is the prolonged procedural delays in getting land-use conversion clearance from the state land and land reforms department that allows tea plantation on farmlands earlier used for farming “food crops”.

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Veteran planters point out that the problem is typical of West Bengal, where tea plantations are mainly on leased land, which attracts the necessity of dual permission — the first being the regular clearance from the Tea Board of India and the second being clearance from the land reforms department for land use conversion.

Without getting that land-use conversion clearance, the marginal farmers are not entitled to the financial benefits enjoyed by farmers producing good crops or feed crops like kisan credit card, crop insurance as well as the state government’s general insurance scheme for the farming families, since tea is a cash crop or industrial crop.

The marginal planters shifting to tea plantations hoping for higher margins, in the absence of institutional farm credit, are going to money lenders at exorbitant interest rates which is making the tea plantations even more unviable for them considering the additional burden of rising production costs.

Planters and tea sector analysts believe that unless the state government comes out with a clear-cut policy for the quick grant of land-use conversion clearance, the sector will be heading for a major crisis in the coming days.

According to the director (operations & plantations) of Chamong Tea, Indranil Ghosh, this problem is not only faced by the marginal planters but also big and corporate planters. “However, I admit the problem poses more problems for the marginal planters than the corporate or big planters. In Assam, since the majority of the plantations are on owned land, a simple clearance from the Tea Board of India is enough to start the plantation there. But in West Bengal, since the majority of the tea plantations are done on leased land, the necessity of land-use conversion clearance arises. So as a representative of the tea sector my appeal to the state government is to ensure quick grant of the clearances,” Ghosh told IANS.

Speaking to IANS, tea sector observer Nandini Goswami said that the existence of the marginal tea planters is also necessary for the co-existence of the bought leaf factories, which cater to the supply of cheaper segments in the retail tea market.

“These bought leaf factories thrive on the supply of the cheaper tea produced by the marginal planters. So, if the production of tea by the marginal planters in north Bengal is affected because of factors like delayed land-use conversion clearance, automatically it will affect the productivity of these factories. In that case, there will be an option for these bought leaf factories to shift to importing even cheaper quality of tea from Nepal, which I believe is already happening. Ultimately, the sufferer will be the tea sector of the state,” Goswami said.

She added that this delay in land use conversion clearance is a reason why many big and corporate planters shifted from plantations to retail and even tea tourism.

Indranil Ghosh also acknowledged the threat of importing cheaper tea from Nepal. “That threat is there since the production cost of tea in Nepal is almost one-third of that here. However, the tea sector is constantly building pressure on the Union government for imposing a very high import duty on tea from Nepal,” Ghosh added.

All India Kisan Sabha functionary Samar Ghosh said that the previous Left Front government had introduced a system of giving a “no-objection certificate” for this land-use conversion at specific intervals. However, he added, this system has not been given a definite policy shape after that.

However, Trinamool Congress leaders like law minister Malaya Ghatak have alleged that the crisis in the tea sector in north Bengal is because of the negligence of the Union government. “The condition of the tea workers is pathetic because of the negligence of the Union government in taking care of crucial aspects like provident fund. We will soon start major agitations in the tea gardens of north Bengal on this issue,” he said.