JHAPA: Stakeholders have alerted that the country's tea industry, the largest foreign exchange earner after black cardamom, is facing a crisis.
The National Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB) targets to bring in foreign currency twice as much in the current fiscal year 2023/24 compared to previous fiscal year.
Harka Tamang, a tea farmer, said the government has not listed tea as an agricultural product yet and has imposed electricity tariffs as an industry hence affecting irrigation. Moreover, the absence of an auction market is obstructing access to the international market, Tamang said.
Likewise, Central Vice President of All Nepal Trade Union Bhupal Sapkota blamed NTCDB for not playing an effective role in solving the problems of tea industrialists, businesspersons, farmers and workers.
Central President of Nepal Tea Plantation Workers' Union, Deepak Tamang, accused the state of being apathetic in solving the problems of tea sector. He complained that the board has not coordinated the implementation of the law while the workers of some plantations are not getting wages as per the Labour Act.
Meanwhile, NTCDB Executive Director, Bishnu Prasad Bhattarai, pledged to play an effective role in solving the existing problems in the tea sector and properly address all the problems raised by the stakeholders.
According to the statistics of the board, the country earned Rs 3.80 billion in foreign exchange through tea exports in the previous fiscal year. The main markets of Nepali tea are India, China, Sri Lanka, Russia, and the Netherlands.
There are 20,237 hectares of tea plantations in Nepal with 99% of it produced in Koshi province. In addition, 30 orthodox tea industries and 38 CTC tea industries have employed 70,000 people.
