The Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has recently conducted training sessions to teach small tea growers (STGs) about integrated pest management and good agricultural practices (GAPH) for tea cultivation.
The training sessions were conducted by experts from the Tea Board and Confederation of Indian Industry Food and Agriculture Centre of Excellence (CII FACE) to strengthen awareness of STGs about the basics of MRLs (maximum residue levels) for pesticides. The MRLs are the limits on the amount of pesticide that can be sprayed on tea leaves to ensure the safety of consumers.
The sessions also discussed the importance of maintaining a recommended time gap between pesticide spraying and tea leaf plucking. In addition, the STGs were also sensitized about the significance of the safe use of pesticides adhering to the FSSAI norms on MRLs.
The Small Tea Growers (STGs) in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, participated in the interactive session. Thiru R Lalvena, health secretary and commissioner of food safety, Tamil Nadu, appreciated the training programme and assured their support for such initiatives.
Inoshi Sharma, executive director of FSSAI, highlighted the need for continuous handholding of STGs in improving the quality of tea and increasing its safe and hygienic production. M Muthukumar, executive director of the Tea Board (South-India Zonal Office), emphasised the importance of traceability in the tea value chain. He stated the need to support the STGs given that these growers have relatively new plantations that are high-yielding and contribute more to the production of tea in the country.
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The CII FACE and other industry partners are also part of the project. Under this, FSSAI plans to conduct a comprehensive capacity-building initiative in various clusters across tea-growing areas of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, and West Bengal. The initiative is aimed at improving the quality of tea and increasing its safe and hygienic production.
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