By Our Correspondent, Ilam, Dec. 14: Tea farmers in Ilam have urged the government to fix the support price of green leaves as the selling price is lower than the production cost.

Stating that the future of tea is getting uncertain every year due to the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, the farmers said that the support price of organic and quality tea should be fixed by the federal government.

The farmers have complained that they have not received the cost price as the big tea traders have been 'syndicating' the farmers' tea and giving the same price for both high and low-quality tea.

Devi Kumari Rai, manager of Sundar Pani Tea Producers' Cooperative in Suryodaya Municipality, said that 116 farmers belonging to the cooperative were selling tea at less than the production cost.

"Our cooperative has been giving green leaves to Gorkha Tea Estate. The price of organic green tea leaves has been fixed by Gorkha at Rs. 91.50 per kg throughout the year," said Rai.

Rai said the cost of production to grow a kg of green leaves is at Rs. 150 to Rs. 200.

Rai said that all the farmers who produce fully organic tea have to sell the leaf at a loss till the government fixes the price.

Binod Khatiwada, another farmer of Sandakpur Rural Municipality, also complained that farmers who do not produce organic tea have to sell green leaves at the price they get.

"Our own orchard is organic, the neighboring garden uses chemical fertilisers and pesticides." Khatiwada said, "If the local, provincial and federal governments are not serious, we, the tea farmers, will have to suffer in the next 15-16 years." Nepali tea will not be sold abroad,” said Khatiwada.

The Suryodaya Municipality, which fixed the support price of tea within its municipality three years ago, has been struggling to implement the support price.

"At that time, all the industrialists, farmers and municipalities had agreed to implement the Quality Tea Production Standards Implementation Procedure 2075."

There is a provision in the working procedure that 40 per cent must be bud and its minimum price is Rs. 40 per kg.

However, farmer Paras Rai of Suryodaya-12 said that the farmers who produce quality leaves have been hit harder after the industrialists fixed the price of tea at Rs. 20 and Rs. 30 per kg last season under the pretext of looking at the quality of the leaves.

The farmer who picks a small amount of green leaf weighs only 20 kg to 60 kg. There are also farmers who pick a kilo of tea. The tea which does not have the same quality as small quantities is also Rs. 20 and 30, so the farmer is not obliged to pick well.

Chief of Suryodaya Municipality Ran Bahadur Rai, who has been making several efforts to implement support price, said that the federal government should fix the price of tea like paddy and sugarcane.

"Nepali tea, which is a part of the country's economy, has a syndicate of businessmen. The federal government has to take the lead to break it," he said.

The National Tea and Coffee Development Board, which is active in the field of tea, is making great efforts to fix the support price of tea, said Dr. Bishnu Prasad Bhattarai, Executive Director of the Board.

"We have also calculated the cost of production. The Board is able to fix the price of tea. But consensus is needed, "said Bhattarai.