Siliguri, Dec. 22: The Tea Board of India has decided to conduct 25 workshops across Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and North Dinajpur districts to educate small tea growers on the maintenance of bushes during winter.

“We have been insisting on providing first-hand training to the growers, as many of them do not know the accurate methods of maintaining tea bushes, particularly in winter which is the lean season,” said Bijoygopal Chakraborty, the vice-president of the United Forum of Small Tea Growers’ Associations.

He said the quality of the first flush depended a lot on the maintenance of bushes during the winter months.

“Ten workshops each would be conducted in Jalpaiguri and North Dinajpur districts while five would be held in Darjeeling. The expenses would be borne by the Tea Board. During the workshop experts from the Tea Research Association would travel to the remote areas and train the growers in the tea plantations,” Chakraborty said.

Around 70 small growers are expected to participate in each workshop.

After the day-long workshop, the participants will share their knowledge with fellow growers of their respective areas Chakraborty said. At present, there are around 25,000 growers in north Bengal, producing about 70 million kg of tea.

The board has also decided to send a team of 25 small growers from the region on a week-long field trip to Assam in February. “The team members would be educated on improving the quality of tea leaves and other details associated with the plantation,” he said.