Importance of Small Tea Cultivation in the Growth of Entrepreneurship in Assam

Abstract

Tea industry of India has made a journey of 180 years and the credit goes to the British entrepreneurs. Assam is a very important state for tea production which produces more than 51 per cent of the country’s total tea. Tea plantations are often called tea estates/ gardens, producing a single agricultural crop, i.e., tea in a large plot of land. The cultivation of tea on small holdings is comparatively a recent development. This small tea cultivation is an integral component of large scale tea industry of the entire state, producing nearly 30 per cent of the total tea. There is a large scope for entrepreneurial involvement in tea cultivation as it provides employment, generates income, wealth and acts as a key force for the economic growth of a region. It has also been found that there are 68,465 small tea growers in Assam, involving nearly 5 lakh families, associated with small tea plantations. It has the potentiality of transforming the socio-economic condition of rural Assam. Cultivation of tea on small holdings is the green revolution of Assam which empowers many people for the first time and rejuvenats the state’s economy. The present paper tries to explore the opportunities of entrepreneurship in tea cultivation by the people of Assam.