Siliguri, July 31 -- Small tea growers in north Bengal are hopeful that the crisis threatening their livelihood may finally be resolved following a high-level meeting convened by the state Agriculture Department at Nabanna on Friday.
The meeting, chaired by state Agriculture Minister Dudhkumar Mondal, was called after small growers appealed for government intervention following the suspension of green leaf procurement by bought leaf factories (BLFs). The stoppage had left thousands of small tea growers, plantation workers and labourers employed in BLFs facing uncertainty.
The crisis began after several leading tea buyers stopped purchasing made tea produced by BLFs in the Dooars and Terai through auction, citing the presence of monocrotop...