Small tea growers of Northeast have urged the Centre to introduce a mechanism like minimum support price (MSP) or fair and remunerative price (FRP) for green tea leaves produced by them to ensure fair and remunerative prices and protection against market price volatility.

“With due respect, we hereby request you to introduce a mechanism for a fair and remunerative price of green tea leaves to protect the small tea growers from market price volatility. As far as we know, Minimum Support Price (MSP) is applicable to 22 agricultural crops and is a price guarantee set by the government to protect farmers from price drops in the open market, thereby ensuring fair price to farmers for their produce,” North East Confederation of Small Tea Growers Association, All Assam Small Tea Growers Council and All Nagaland Small Tea Growers Association said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Another successful and time tested mechanism to ensure fair price to sugarcane farmers is Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP),” the small tea growers associations said in the letter.

The associations said tea is half agriculture and half industry, and small tea growers engage in the cultivation and harvesting of tea leaves, which is a form of agriculture or farming. “We therefore earnestly request you to introduce Minimum Support Price (MSP) or Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for green tea leaves produced by Small Tea Growers (STGs),” they said.

In the letter, dated November 13, the associations said the present Price Sharing Formula (PSF) or declaration of Average Green Leaf Price (AGLP) district-wise and month-wise by the Tea Board is not helping the tea growers, rather it is creating a rift between tea growers and tea manufacturers.

“We would also like to request you to extend all schemes under the Agriculture Ministry to the small tea growers. Small tea growers need more support from the government in providing plucking machine, pruning machine, fencing and irrigation. It will be of great help if fertiliser and approved pesticides can be provided to STGs at a special rate,” the letter added.

Notably, various tea manufacturers and growers bodies, including the Indian Tea Association, Tea Association of India and Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers’ Associations, have also appealed to the Prime Minister to ensure a minimum sustainable prices for tea.

They argued that the need of the hour for the country’s tea industry is the notification of a Minimum Sustainable Price, based on a transparent cost of production. The minimum green leaf price has to be ₹35-40 per kg for small growers. The Minimum Sustainable Price is zero cost to the government of India.

Published on November 14, 2025