Abstract
Despite of the high rate of the orthodox tea, the net margin is still below the satisfactory level. Thus the present research was conducted to analyze the value chain of orthodox tea in Ilam district of Nepal. A total of 160 samples were collected, 80 each from organic and conventional tea growing area. Similarly, 4 tea processing factories and 5 local traders were selected purposely. The major functions involved in the orthodox tea value chain were supplying of the inputs, production, transportation/collection, processing, blending and packaging, exporting and domestic trading. Agro vets and input suppliers supplied required inputs such as saplings, fertilizers and pesticides etc. to the farmers and tea estates. The production of green tea leaves would undergo transportation and collection which was conducted by farmers, tea estates, co-operatives and brokers. Processing, blending and packaging functions were carried out either by tea companies or tea processing factories. Exportation was conducted by tea factories or trading companies whereas domestic trading was conducted by tea factories, wholesaler and retailers. Low farm gate price, high cost of labor and inputs were the major production problems whereas fluctuation in price and lack of marketing information were the major marketing problems from the study.
Highlights
Tea (Camellia sinensis) is the manufactured drink which most consumed in the world
Small farmers accounted for 59.52 percent of total area under cultivation and 54.37 percent of total tea production of these districts
There is a wide variation in the number of farmers involved and the area of tea production, across these four districts
Summary
China is the largest tea producing country with an output of 2.4 million tons, accounting for more than 35 percent of the world total, while production in India, the second largest producer, is 1.3 million tons in 2018. The production of orthodox tea in Ilam, Panchthar, Dhankuta and Terathum districts accounted for 96.38 percent of total production of Orthodox tea in the country in 2017/18. Small farmers accounted for 59.52 percent of total area under cultivation and 54.37 percent of total tea production of these districts. Ilam is the leading district with 6,995 small farmers, 7965 ha of land under tea, and 4884.8 thousand kg of production. Nepal's yield is only 71 percent of the other global tea industry leader-Kenya (Subedi, 2000). There is still a lot of room for the improvement of productivity in yield as well as in quality
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