The government of India has decided to bring the country’s tea industry under the purview of an insurance scheme to help mitigate losses to tea growers from erratic rain and rising temperatures.
The government-backed Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS), which would come into effect from kharif 2025, is intended to safeguard the tea planters from weather-related anomalies.
A notification to this effect was issued by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on June 10.
States and UTs have been asked to expedite the floating of tenders, finalisation of the insurance company, and other modalities by June 20 to ensure that farmers can avail the benefits of the scheme.
Also read: https://www.newsarenaindia.com/economy/india-s-tea-exports-rose-by-almost-10-pc-in-2024-tea-board/47130
Indian Tea Association’s (ITA) secretary general, Arijit Raha, said this is the first time that the sector has been brought under the purview of a weather-based insurance scheme.
“The tea sector is witnessing frequent fluctuations in production due to erratic rainfall, waterlogging and rise in temperature, sometimes exceeding 35 degrees Celsius. Climate change adaptation and mitigation have become a major challenge to keep the sector sustainable,” he said.
In such a scenario, weather-based crop insurance becomes a necessity, he added.
“We heartily welcome the decision of the Centre to extend the scheme to this sector,” said Raha.
The president of the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers (CISTA), Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty, too welcomed the decision, saying they had been raising a demand for it since the past five years.
“We welcome this step. Crop insurance is an effective and mitigating component in the backdrop of climate change. Tea cultivation by small growers had been hit by high temperatures and excessive rains,” he said.
India, the second-largest tea producer in the world after China, reported 1,382 million kg of production in 2024. In 2023, it produced 1,375 million kg of tea.
Small tea growers contribute to more than 50 per cent of the country’s total production.
Assam is the largest tea-producing state in the country, followed by West Bengal and the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, and UP are among the states that grow small quantities of tea.
Follow us
