"With no dealings now with the London tea auction (LTA), we are putting in place the infrastructure for direct business with overseas customers and targeted an annual export of two mn kgs of tea to Japan alone, aiming at an auction price of $100 per kg, as against the paltry $3.5-5.5 dollar per kg at present," Mr Rajah Kumar Bannerjee, of Makaibari Tea Estates said.

He said about 80 gardens in and around Darjeeling, were focusing on organic tea, setting up a digital tea-commerce infrastructure, trying for registration under Geographical Indicators Act (GIA) and reducing price differentials between retail and procurement prices for farmers. He said the routing of Darjeeling tea, through the LTA had caused a huge price differential. Mr Banerjee said the estates sought to remove this price differential, by eliminating middlemen with the setting up of a comprehensive e-commerce infrastructure, which would help in immediate placing and meeting of orders.

He said the estates were also trying to get "Darjeeling Tea" registered under the GIA, to prevent misuse of its name which had led to global consumption of 50 mn kg under its label, though the estates in Darjeeling produced only 8.5 mn kg.

Mr Bannerjee said while the global market for Darjeeling teas is Rs 10,000 crore, the estates got only Rs 200 crore due to unremunerative prices and misuse of the "Darjeeling Tea" label. He said with the increasing green consumerism, the estates were focusing on organic tea production, and 20 estates had already switched over to the concept and five more had decided to do so. More than 10,000 hectares had already been certified as being under organic tea cultivation, he added. He said the conversion resulted in a 30 per cent decline in output in the first year, and takes eight years for increased production than it did during conventional plantation. However, the high premium prices in the international market more than compensates, for the decline in output from the first year itself, he added. He said already 90 per cent of the exports from Darjeeling estates were of organic tea.

He said the tea estates in Darjeeling, were working on a plan of grassroots entrepreneurship, which included six stage extensive mulching of soil and using bio-gas for integrative forest management.

Perma-culture in Darjeeling estates, had resulted in a top soil extremely rich in humus, conducive for the growth of organic tea. To facilitate large scale tea plantation in proper forest environment, around 240 hectares of land, was being sustained by bio-dynamic compost in Makaibari alone, he added.

(PTI)