The government has assured the plantation sector that the Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) price stabilisation fund focused at the small growers, would be operationalised soon.
"The operational modalities of this scheme have already been worked out by an inter-ministerial committee and the scheme would be put in operation at the earliest," Commerce Minister Arun Shourie said.
Announcing this, the minister told the Rajya Sabha that the experts committee appointed last week to survey the closure of tea gardens has been asked to complete its task within 15 days for working out a package of measures for their revival.
Replying to a calling attention on the crisis in plantation sector particularly tea, coffee and rubber, Shourie said some tea gardens in Kerala, West Bengal, Tripura and Assam have been closed. There were no closures in Tamil Nadu.
The continuous fall in prices of tea and coffee, coupled with high cost of production, has adversely affected the economy of plantations, resulting in some tea and coffee plantations being abandoned or under lock-out in Kerala, West Bengal and Assam.
The fund, mainly for plantation crops of tea, coffee and rubber, is apart from the several programmes and schemes formulated in the tenth five year plan to ensure long-term development of the plantation sector, he said.
The schemes in the Tenth Plan are targeted at increasing productivity, technology upgradation, value addition, product diversification, besides improving quality and marketability of these commodities, the minister said adding a medium term export strategy specific to each of these commodities was already under implementation.
Noting that global prices of commodities were generally depressed, Shourie said domestic prices of coffee, tea and natural rubber have a tendency to move more or less in tandem with international prices.
"One of the factors that has caused this fall in international prices is that demand has not kept pace with supply of these commodities," he added.
Saying that a number of measures have already been initiated, Shourie stated, "Some states like Kerala have already taken steps to provide relief to affected growers."
Regarding the demand of members that the government should use its offices to ask Russia to revive large scale import of Indian tea and tobacco, he said the import of these commodities were now in the hands of private parties and not with the government.
The only way India could attract these markets was through competition. "You cannot force anybody to buy our products," he said.
Denying allegations of members that increasing import of Sri Lankan tea under the bilateral free trade agreement was harming the interest of tea growers in the country, he said, "As against 15 million kg of tea imports from Sri Lanka allowed under the free trade agreement, only 0.46 million kg was imported this year and 0.31 million kg last year."
The minister added that 95 per cent of this quantity was re-exported.
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