In view of the growing demand for organic tea in the international market, small tea growers of Assam, whose gardens are organic from the beginning or being already converted or under conversion, have decided to come together and work jointly for promoting organic cultivation of the crop in the region, keeping in mind the global market. The organic small tea growers have formed an ad hoc committee with Someswar Phukan as its president. Phukan, the first small tea grower in the State whose tea gardens are under conversion, said that inorganic cultivation has exposed the environment to grave damage and the need of the hour was to generate awareness on organic cultivation. This committee has taken the responsibility to bring together all organic tea growers of the Northeast. “Our objective is to bring as many cultivators as we can under our umbrella and to compete at the international level,” said Phukan. It needs to be mentioned here that recently these small tea growers met at Digboi under the aegis of the Tea Board of India, Rotary Club of Digboi, Fertile-Ground, and Siang Tea Private Industries Ltd. More than 60 tea growers from different states of the Northeast exchanged their views and expertise on the subject of organic cultivation of tea. In this meet, Kaison Chang, secretary, FAO of UN, Joelle Katto-Andrighetto, value chain manager, IFOAM (International Federation for Organic Agriculture Movement), Peggy Carswell, founder, Fertile Ground of Canada, G Boriah, advisor, Tea Board of India, and many other prominent personalities were also present. The highlight of the meeting was direct interaction of tea growers with Kaison Chang. Peggy Carswell from Fertile Ground said that she is hopeful that this development will help the Tea Board of India to understand and respond more effectively to the collective needs of the organic small tea growers. Since 1999 Carswell has been working in Assam to promote organic agriculture, including organic tea. “It is very important that the Tea Board of India take up the task of encouraging organic cultivation. I have been fighting for the right of the small tea growers since 1999. Small tea growers have always been taken as green leaf producer for the big companies. This is not right,” said Carswell. Source: assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=sep2313/state05