DPA and Tea Board meet in Darjeeling

The three-day workshop will focus on finding ways to improve the efficiency of workers and will be attended by managers and other garden officials. The programme will help the garden staff understand the changes in the global scenario. Organised by the Tea Board in association with Darjeeling Tea Association, the workshop will be coordinated by Maitreyi R. Kollegal from the Indian Institute of Plantation Management, Bangalore.

Sources said apart from providing an overview of the new challenges in the tea industry, resource personnel and the tea officials will be working towards understanding markets in the new competitive context.

Over the years, the Indian tea industry, including Darjeeling Tea, has been facing stiff competition from other tea producing countries like Sri Lanka and Kenya especially with regard to pricing. Keeping this aspect of the trade in mind, a special session will be dedicated to discussing cost control and competitiveness.

The workshop is also expected to discuss the fact that though quality of Darjeeling Tea is still unmatched, the annual production has not crossed the 9-million kg-mark for the past few years. The emphasis will also be on strengthening estate and supply chain management, which is most essential to improve the condition of the gardens.

New product development and marketing initiatives will also be dealt with in detail so that the industry can capture new markets. The Darjeeling Tea Association in collaboration with the Tea Board have conducted many promotional tours in Europe in the past and industry observers believe that understanding modern marketing techniques would further boost their efforts.

Source > The Telegraph

Taken from http://teanewsdarjeeling.blogspot.com/