The way to Denguajhar Tea Estate. Picture by Biplab Basak

Siliguri, March 4: For the first time in the history of brew industry in north Bengal, a tea major will share its profits with small growers who supply leaves to one of its factories.

This profit is apart from what Goodricke Group Limited pays to the seven small growers as price of leaves supplied to the company’s factory on Denguajhar Tea Estate on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri town. Goodricke owns 12 tea estates in the Dooars.

“At the beginning of the last season, we had brought in about seven small tea growers to supply us with leaves. They were paid for the leaves supplied. This time, apart from that payment, we will share a portion of the profit with them. We will hand over Rs 7.55 lakh to them tomorrow,” said Subir Ganguly, manager (outsourcing) of the company.

The profit on per kg of leaves supplied has been calculated on the basis of prices fetched by the tea of Denguajhar at the auction.

For each kg of manufactured tea sold, Goodricke has deducted 20 per cent as its own profit and Rs 20 as manufacturing cost. The remaining amount has been divided by 4. 65. This is because usually 4.65 kg of leaves is needed to produce 1 kg of tea. The division of the amount by 4.65 gives the profit that small growers are entitled to on per kg of leaves supplied. That comes to Rs 13.90 per kg for the period from August 24 to December 31.

If a grower for example has supplied 100 kg of leaves and has been paid at the rate of Rs 11 per kg, he will receive an additional sum of Rs 2.90 (Rs 13.9-Rs 11) per kg from the company. In this case, it would be Rs 290 for 100kg of leaves supplied. However, the company has also made it clear that small growers will not have to share any losses.

“This is the first time that a company is sharing profit with the growers who otherwise, receive only the price of leaves,” Ganguly said. “Our decision has generated interest among the tea growers, many of whom have already started contacting us, with an intention to supply us with leaves for the next season.”

In the last season, Goodricke had produced more than 11 lakh kg tea in Denguajhar. For this, the small growers had supplied 40 lakh kg of green leaves.

The small growers are happy with the Goodricke decision and want the trend of sharing profits to rise. “This practice is prevalent in Kenya where growers are paid a share of the profit every year. The deal with Goodricke has proved beneficial for us as the company had always paid us higher than the prevailing market prices,” said Bijoygopal Chakraborty, the chairman of the United Forum of Small Tea Growers’ Association. “Further, the company has also helped us with extended services like training, field visits and the sharing of know-how and expertise. We expect similar help from other tea majors in the coming years.”

The company, on its part, has upgraded its infrastructure to increase production, particularly after consistent supply of leaves from small growers. “Investments have been made to extend the factory to increase production,” Ganguly said.