Shimla3 hours ago
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- 20 crores Rs. Annual turnover, department aims to double production in 5 years
Kangra Tea Festival will be organized during the tourist season at popular tourist places like Manali, Shimla, Dalhousie, Dharamshala etc. to give national recognition to Kangra tea. Apart from this, the state government has set a target of doubling the production of Kangra tea in the next 5 years.
A record production of 10,01,419 kg of tea has been recorded in the year 2021-22, now a target of 20 lakh has been set. At present, tea is being grown in Dhauladhar in 2310.71 hectare area, Dharamsala, Shahpur, Nagrota Bagwan, Palampur, Jaisinghpur, Baijnath and Jogindernagar areas in hilly areas.
Agriculture Minister Virendra Kanwar says that during the year 2021-22, an additional area of 5.6 hectares was covered under tea gardens in the state and in the next five years, a target has been set to bring about 100 hectares of additional areas under tea gardens. The tea industry provided an economic share of Rs 20 crore during the last financial year.
10% of the tea grown in the state is consumed in the state, while the rest 90% is auctioned in Kolkata. During the year 2021-2022, 4000 kg of Kangra tea was exported directly from Himachal to Germany, England, Russia and France. A target has been set to export 20% of Kangra tea produced in the state every year from Himachal Pradesh directly to foreign countries during the coming years.
5900 families of the state are associated with tea production
There are 5900 households involved in tea production in the state and 95% of these households have tea plantations on less than 0.5 hectares of land. There are 21 large tea gardening families in the state having tea gardens in an area of 10 hectares. A target has been set to grow 1.5 lakh tea plants in Palampur during the current financial year.
The State Government will provide 50% subsidy on equipment used for plucking and sorting tea. During the last year, Kangra tea was sold at Rs.160 per kg in Kolkata auction market while Kangra tea was sold at Rs.400 per kg in Himachali market.