Energy audit of N. Indian tea factories to begin soon

The energy audit of North Indian tea factories will begin shortly, according to Mr M.G.V.K. Bhanu, Chairman of the Tea Board of India. Talking to Business Line here on Wednesday, Mr Bhanu informed that the Tea Board has already completed the exercise for nearly 200 tea factories in South India. “Our experience so far has been encouraging, with energy audit having helped achieve nearly 20 per cent improvement in energy efficiency,” he observed.

An officer of the Indian Administrative Service 1985 batch Assam cadre, Mr Bhanu took over as the Chairman of Tea Board in November last.

The energy audit in the South Indian tea factories, as he pointed out, was conducted by the Bangalore-based Technology Informatic for Development Endeavour (TIDE), an NGO, with help from UNDP. In North India, an estimated 700 or so factories would be covered, he said.

Optimising energy consumption assumes significance in the context of sustainable growth in tea production, the Tea Board Chairman felt.

“The production of quality tea leaf is important; equally, if not more important is to upgrade the factories to improve the practices for processing green leaves,” he observed.

The other issue which is getting a good deal of attention is the impact of climate change on tea production, both in terms of quality and quantity.

CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT

The emergence of new types of pests resistant to chemicals currently used in tea gardens to tackle pest attack, has created a situation where it has become necessary to develop new clones suited to address the problem.

The issue of MRL (maximum residue level) in tea is causing no less concern. “While we insist on MRL in brew and as opposed to MRL in made tea as emphasised by many in the global tea trade, we must also concede that we cannot totally ignore for long the international norms laid down in this regard,” he said pointing out that Tea Board would soon hold meetings with all stakeholders to sort out the issue.

“Perhaps more stringent regulatory mechanism than the one we now have has to be in place and some sort of self-disciplining might be necessary — the industry may be required to come up with its own code of conduct,” he added.

Referring to not-too-satisfactory progress of the Special Purpose Tea Fund, the Tea Board Chairman indicated probable change in the scope of the scheme with the inclusion of new provisions for some kind of compensation for the growers hit by production loss during the re-plantation period.