Value Chain Mariagemerit for Production, Quality and Profitability in Nilgiris Small Tea Segment through Group Dynamic Approaches

摘要

The Nilgiris in South India is one of the main tea producing regions in India comprising both corporate and small sector. Total area under tea in Nilgiris is around 62,000 hectares. Out of which 75% of the holding ie., 45,000 hectares belonging to 60,000 small tea growers. Free trade arrangement introduced through World Trade Organization (WTO) has resulted in creating a threat to the south Indian market and the small sector was not an exception to this. The industry was gripped by an unprecedented crisis due to price crash and high cost of production. Although the industry had witnessed such recession cycles in the past, the slump in the recent past have been rather a prolonged one with signs of revival seemingly remaining elusive. This situation not only reflected on the small growers but also on private factories and corporate sectors. Auction reports during the crisis showed that annual average price of tea sold in south Indian auction centres during 1999 was Rs.57.12 per kg which further declined to Rs.47.32 per kg. During early 2000, tea was sold at Rs.40.00 per kg compared with the cost of production in south India which was around Rs.69.00 per kg. It revealed that tea was sold below the cost of production which has made the production unviable (Anonymous, 2005). In addition, the steep hike in labour wages apart from increase in freight rates and prices of diesel, leco, furnaceoil, fertilizer etc., have made the situation bad. The livelihood of the small growers and labourer who were employed in the tea industry was jeopardized and posed threat to survival (Ramadurai, 2000).