• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Aravindan

A view of the tea processing factory set up by Malanad Service Co-operative Bank at Wagamon in Idukki district.

KOTTAYAM, May 8

WHEN Malanad Service Co-operative Bank Ltd, Wagamon (Idukki district) realised that about 8,000 small tea growers to whom it had advanced funds were unable to service the loan and interest thereof, the bank solved the problem in a sensible manner without initiating the usual recovery steps.

It set up a tea processing factory at Wagamon with an installed capacity of five lakh kg of made tea per annum.

In the tea belt in Wagamon, there are over 8,000 small growers whose plantation area is between 0.5 and 2 hectares.

In and around Wagamon, most of the major tea plantations have been closed and the remaining few were taken over by the labourers under the supervision of their own union leaders.

This processing factory is a unique venture being initiated by a service co-operative bank for the benefit of its members mainly consisting of tea growers, according to Mr Cheriyan Abraham, President of the bank.

In the tea sector, neither the grower nor the big planter are beneficiaries. But the major brand makers are making profits.

When growers are denied a reasonable price, the customers have to pay the same old rates for the brands purchased from the market, Mr M.S. Joy, Secretary of the Bank, told Business Line.

The Malanad Co-operative Tea Processing Factory, Wagamon, with modern machinery could ensure a fair price for the plucked tea leaves supplied by their member/growers. Having realised the benefits, the member/growers supported the cause by prompt delivery of their quality produce to the factory.

With the expert technical know-how, the tea produced by the factory fetched fair prices at the auctions - equivalent to or even better than those obtained by major producers in the private sector.

Paramount Tea Marketing Private Ltd has reported that the Malanad Tea Factory could obtain the highest price for BOP grade (CTC) at the Kochi auctions.

"The auction prices are also so sensitive that any interference will upset the price mechanism at the auction,'' said Mr W.C. Cherian, a promoter of the processing factory and tea planter himself.

The factory made a profit of Rs 22 lakh during the year ended March 31, 2002 while most of the processing factories were in the red for the same period.

The MASCO brand of tea brought out by the Malanad Co-operative Tea processing factory has also become popular among consumers. While major players in the market sell their branded tea at Rs 130 and above per kg, the MASCO tea is sold at Rs 116 per kg.

"In tea sector, the processing factory is the first of its kind set up exclusively to give a reasonable price to its members," Mr Abraham Cherian said.

Malanad Service Co-operative Bank has set an example for other crops to adopt crisis management principles to save the helpless farmers.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section
Marine exports down on slump in global seafood market

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line