Since 1999, there was a sudden drop in price of the Tea sold by the small growers.  The main reason for the drop in price was the medium quality tea produced by the small sector in the district.  This led to the crisis in Tea industry of Nilgiris, which mostly affected the small growers of Nilgiris.  The solution to this crisis is producing quality tea to increase the productivity and reduce the cost of production.

In order to strengthen the development of Tea among these growers a programme on Quality upgradation was launched in collaboration with Tea Board to transfer latest technologies and create awareness among them. The Quality upgradation programme is currently working on three dimensions as detailed below;

       A   -         Village awareness campaigns

 B   -         Factory experiment cum demonstrations

 C   -         Seminars/ Publicity interactive meet to study the impact

 PROJECT ACTIVITIES:

1. Field activities undertaken

      1)     Village awareness campaigns

2)     Field Advisory visits

3)     Quality Tea Procurement and Service Centre visits

4)     Status of Quality Leaf Procurement Centre

1) Village awareness campaigns

The objective of these campaigns is to encourage Women Self Help Groups, to set up Quality tea procurement and service centres through which the small tea growers of the village are exposed to the benefits of resorting to Scientific cultural Practices, and the development of healthy linkage with factories.

Given below is the list of such campaigns conducted region wise in Nilgiris  (2000 to  2004)

Village Campaign details

II. Factory activities

1) Factory Experiment cum demonstration

Tea Board and UPASI KVK under the result driven approach of quality upgradation programme conducted experiments in those factories that were willing to produce premium teas inorder to give differential price for quality leaf supplied by growers.The factory experiments cum demonstration were carried out to encourage factories produce quality tea and also consistency in the quality of tea produced by them. During the period, 19 experiments were conducted at various factories in Nilgiris.

The table below shows the number of factory experiments cum demonstration conducted regionwise since inception of the project.

III. Seminars

Seminars are mostly conducted to cover more number of  people at a time.  Hence Seminars under Quality Upgradation project was conducted for the benefit of the small sector in the Nilgiris district.Many experts from Tea Industry specializing on different aspects were invited to share their views and experiences during these sessions. These experts were from Corporate Sector and also from Government Organisation. The participants are the small tea growers, factory owners and other supervisory staff from the Tea factories.  Various topics would be covered like WTO and its impact on the Small Growers and manufacturers, Governments initiatives and approach towards tackling the future demands, the need for specializing on quality aspects to face the future. Other mediators like the Brokers, Selling agent and Buyers are also invited for these sessions to share their part in the upliftment of the Small growers development.  Demands faced by the mediators once the finished product is handed over to them is also brought out during these sessions.  To conclude the objective of seminars it is appropriate to state that it is a complete involvement of all the bodies from small growers to the end buyers of the product.

Impact Quality Upgradation Programme

Field

1) Adoption of technologies and  achievements through Quality Tea Procurement and Service Centre

2) Income generated by the farmers

Status of Quality Tea Procurement and Service Centre for the month of February 2004

S.No.	Region	Qty supplied	Normal Price	Differential price	No. of  beneficiaries
1	Coonoor	16212	6.04	10.83	181
2	Gudalur	34892	-	-	74
3	Kotagiri	14882	6.27	9.83	54
4	Kundah	11210	6.33	9.50	148
5	Ooty	16798	5.41	10.21	241
	Total	93994	-	-	-

Factory

1) Adoption of technologies and achievement through QUP Factory experiment cum demonstration

2) Year wise achievement for premium teas

No. of factories linked and giving differential price