Rakhi Dutta Saikia, Director, Arin Tea Pvt.Ltd.is putting in great effort to popularize the Yellow Tea Brands in Assam and elsewhere. She has also authored a book called Assamica - a comprehensive book on tea.
Kindly introduce yourself.
My name is Rakhi Saikia. I come from Golaghat, Assam. I am one of the Directors of the company called Arin Tea Pvt. Ltd. We have 5 tea gardens. I have 28 years of experience in tea gardening. We have paddy fields too. But we don't work much in the paddy fields. In the Pabhojan area, we have a fully organic 200 hectare tea garden. We have non-organic tea gardens and a tea factory as well.
How did you develop your tea estate and how did you manage to make your Arin & Pabhojan tea brand popular?
It is a well-known fact that tea is a popular crop in Assam. My husband is a tea planter. After I got married, I too started working in the tea gardens. As a family we are in the tea business. When we started our productions in 2003 we took a contract for organic cultivation in the year 2012 for our tea garden in Pabhojan. The concept of organic products didn't get very popular in India. It is a fact that organic cultivation has health benefits and so I gave this cultivation a lot of importance. We all know that green tea has a lot of benefits. It is very popular in the Indian market as well. But, yellow tea is much richer than green tea. It is processed in China and it is very famous there. It is a rare tea. A scientist asked if could we process yellow tea. I studied about the processing of yellow tea. But I didn't get any solid content giving instructions on how to process yellow tea.
In China, the yellow tea is considered royal and is offered to the emperor. We tried it in 2017. I gave the tea to my promoters and they liked it. Now, in India yellow tea is classified as Class 1. In Assam we have great demand for yellow tea. Many people have begun trying yellow tea. But then, producing it is not sufficient; we have to create a market to sell it and for a market we require consumers. We need to create awareness among consumers about yellow tea. So, I wrote a book - Assamica.
The book was all about tea. It elaborates how tea is cultivated, processed, how it should be consumed etc. I also wrote about the specialty of Assam tea. I then had my attention on yellow tea, white tea, and Oolong tea.
In how many acres of land do you produce tea? What does your cost of production come up to approximately?
It's not that we get a solid income from the tea estates. We have to promote it. We have to be very vigilant of the weather conditions when it comes to tea production. In Assam, the cost of production of tea has gone high. Because of that the product price has shot up. We, hence are facing a lot of problems.
So, now is it all organic?
Yes, it is organic. The cost of production is very high here. So that we don't get paid well for the tea we sell. We have invested a lot into this tea garden. The price is supposed to be Rs 700 - Rs 800. We haven't got a proper market for it yet. Buyers are not ready to give a good price for the tea. We started our own packaging because we wanted our own brand.
Is the market condition like this in Assam alone?
In Assam we have low demand for organic tea and the consumers are also less. The cost of production of green tea is high but people are not ready to pay the price. So, we do not wish to produce too much of its kind.
Tell us about your book, Assamica.
In Assamica, I focused on the quality of tea and the history of Assam tea, its health benefits and specialty. I have even detailed on how to brew it, drink it, etc.
What is your advice to those who are interested in tea cultivation?
The place where tea grows depends on the rainfall the place gets. We need to understand the factors that affect its growth.
How much rainfall does it need? Can something be done artificially?
Not really. It needs rainfall. The thing is down South you mostly have only one season. For us, we have extreme winters and summers unlike in the South India where you more or less have the same season throughout the year. The cultivation also depends on the terrain and quality of soil. Tea cannot be cultivated in low lying areas, you need highlands. Nilgiris also has Assam’s variety. The variety of tea that you get at Darjeeling is China variety but the variety you get in Assam is from Assam itself. This variety is the one that gets cultivated in the South as well.
Do you sell your tea in India and overseas?
I have got an order and I have started my sales. I have got orders from Singapore, Ghana, etc. I have submitted my samples to all these buyers. In fact, I am just back after a Germany visit. I had to travel to Germany for the organic cultivation. There is a good market for organic tea in Germany.
The highest quality tea is obtained from the tea leaves that grow at the highest level, right?
Yes, that is true.
What about the tea processing? Does all that happen at your plant itself?
Yes.
In India, we have had floods. How do you tackle such issues? Can you talk about any drainage system you may have in place?
We have a drainage system in place. Water gets drained at 4.0 feet.
Who certifies your farm?
Organic certification is done by IMO Control which consists of NOP and NPOP. The rest of the plantation is ISO certified.
If someone new wants to enter the tea plantation sector, what advice would you give in terms of initial investment and land requirement?
The soil should have organic carbon ( Above 1.0), nitrogen 600-700 kg per hectare, potash 100 ppm in the plot, phosphorus 11-25 ppm in the plot. The pH level of the soil should be 4.5-5.5. They can do a soil testing in a lab and get the pH Level identified. If the pH level is optimum, the cultivation will go smooth. When it comes to investment, it will cost Rs 12,000- Rs 14,000 per hectare. Test the soil, check the pH level and then start the cultivation work once you understand if that land can be used for tea cultivation or not.
So, how do you market your products?
I have a marketing office in Guwahati. I have a marketing unit in Assam. I also have salesmen and wholesalers who pass it to distributors. We also do deliver ourselves. That is how we market the tea.
So, do you have sales in Guwahati alone or do you have sales in the South of India as well?
I have a lot of requests from Tamil Nadu owing to the quality of my produce.
How do you see the tea market trending in the coming years?
All the expenses are going high and we are being forced to sell at a cost that does not cover the cost of production. The government has put a rule on the amount we have to give as labour charge. But, we can’t afford the suggested labour charge. If the market rate doesn't come up and the labour continues to be expensive how the tea can gardens are preserved? This has led to less production. We don't have enough rainfall. The temperature has gone up to 42 degrees. This has also lessened the production. The market is down and the rains are scanty. So, things are difficult.
Contact :
Ms. Rakhi Dutta saikia
Arin Tea Pvt. Ltd
Arengapara Road,
Golaghat,
Assam - 785621
Email:rakhisaikia9@gmail.com
Mob: 9435151140
Kindly introduce yourself.
My name is Rakhi Saikia. I come from Golaghat, Assam. I am one of the Directors of the company called Arin Tea Pvt. Ltd. We have 5 tea gardens. I have 28 years of experience in tea gardening. We have paddy fields too. But we don't work much in the paddy fields. In the Pabhojan area, we have a fully organic 200 hectare tea garden. We have non-organic tea gardens and a tea factory as well.
How did you develop your tea estate and how did you manage to make your Arin & Pabhojan tea brand popular?
It is a well-known fact that tea is a popular crop in Assam. My husband is a tea planter. After I got married, I too started working in the tea gardens. As a family we are in the tea business. When we started our productions in 2003 we took a contract for organic cultivation in the year 2012 for our tea garden in Pabhojan. The concept of organic products didn't get very popular in India. It is a fact that organic cultivation has health benefits and so I gave this cultivation a lot of importance. We all know that green tea has a lot of benefits. It is very popular in the Indian market as well. But, yellow tea is much richer than green tea. It is processed in China and it is very famous there. It is a rare tea. A scientist asked if could we process yellow tea. I studied about the processing of yellow tea. But I didn't get any solid content giving instructions on how to process yellow tea.
In China, the yellow tea is considered royal and is offered to the emperor. We tried it in 2017. I gave the tea to my promoters and they liked it. Now, in India yellow tea is classified as Class 1. In Assam we have great demand for yellow tea. Many people have begun trying yellow tea. But then, producing it is not sufficient; we have to create a market to sell it and for a market we require consumers. We need to create awareness among consumers about yellow tea. So, I wrote a book - Assamica.
The book was all about tea. It elaborates how tea is cultivated, processed, how it should be consumed etc. I also wrote about the specialty of Assam tea. I then had my attention on yellow tea, white tea, and Oolong tea.
In how many acres of land do you produce tea? What does your cost of production come up to approximately?
It's not that we get a solid income from the tea estates. We have to promote it. We have to be very vigilant of the weather conditions when it comes to tea production. In Assam, the cost of production of tea has gone high. Because of that the product price has shot up. We, hence are facing a lot of problems.
So, now is it all organic?
Yes, it is organic. The cost of production is very high here. So that we don't get paid well for the tea we sell. We have invested a lot into this tea garden. The price is supposed to be Rs 700 - Rs 800. We haven't got a proper market for it yet. Buyers are not ready to give a good price for the tea. We started our own packaging because we wanted our own brand.
Is the market condition like this in Assam alone?
In Assam we have low demand for organic tea and the consumers are also less. The cost of production of green tea is high but people are not ready to pay the price. So, we do not wish to produce too much of its kind.
Tell us about your book, Assamica.
In Assamica, I focused on the quality of tea and the history of Assam tea, its health benefits and specialty. I have even detailed on how to brew it, drink it, etc.
What is your advice to those who are interested in tea cultivation?
The place where tea grows depends on the rainfall the place gets. We need to understand the factors that affect its growth.
How much rainfall does it need? Can something be done artificially?
Not really. It needs rainfall. The thing is down South you mostly have only one season. For us, we have extreme winters and summers unlike in the South India where you more or less have the same season throughout the year. The cultivation also depends on the terrain and quality of soil. Tea cannot be cultivated in low lying areas, you need highlands. Nilgiris also has Assam’s variety. The variety of tea that you get at Darjeeling is China variety but the variety you get in Assam is from Assam itself. This variety is the one that gets cultivated in the South as well.
Do you sell your tea in India and overseas?
I have got an order and I have started my sales. I have got orders from Singapore, Ghana, etc. I have submitted my samples to all these buyers. In fact, I am just back after a Germany visit. I had to travel to Germany for the organic cultivation. There is a good market for organic tea in Germany.
The highest quality tea is obtained from the tea leaves that grow at the highest level, right?
Yes, that is true.
What about the tea processing? Does all that happen at your plant itself?
Yes.
In India, we have had floods. How do you tackle such issues? Can you talk about any drainage system you may have in place?
We have a drainage system in place. Water gets drained at 4.0 feet.
Who certifies your farm?
Organic certification is done by IMO Control which consists of NOP and NPOP. The rest of the plantation is ISO certified.
If someone new wants to enter the tea plantation sector, what advice would you give in terms of initial investment and land requirement?
The soil should have organic carbon ( Above 1.0), nitrogen 600-700 kg per hectare, potash 100 ppm in the plot, phosphorus 11-25 ppm in the plot. The pH level of the soil should be 4.5-5.5. They can do a soil testing in a lab and get the pH Level identified. If the pH level is optimum, the cultivation will go smooth. When it comes to investment, it will cost Rs 12,000- Rs 14,000 per hectare. Test the soil, check the pH level and then start the cultivation work once you understand if that land can be used for tea cultivation or not.
So, how do you market your products?
I have a marketing office in Guwahati. I have a marketing unit in Assam. I also have salesmen and wholesalers who pass it to distributors. We also do deliver ourselves. That is how we market the tea.
So, do you have sales in Guwahati alone or do you have sales in the South of India as well?
I have a lot of requests from Tamil Nadu owing to the quality of my produce.
How do you see the tea market trending in the coming years?
All the expenses are going high and we are being forced to sell at a cost that does not cover the cost of production. The government has put a rule on the amount we have to give as labour charge. But, we can’t afford the suggested labour charge. If the market rate doesn't come up and the labour continues to be expensive how the tea can gardens are preserved? This has led to less production. We don't have enough rainfall. The temperature has gone up to 42 degrees. This has also lessened the production. The market is down and the rains are scanty. So, things are difficult.
Contact :
Ms. Rakhi Dutta saikia
Arin Tea Pvt. Ltd
Arengapara Road,
Golaghat,
Assam - 785621
Email:rakhisaikia9@gmail.com
Mob: 9435151140