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Tea council seeks loan from government |
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August 22, 2000
Sylhet (UNB) – Struggling to give a boost to the tea industry, Bangladeshi Tea Council (BTC) seeks a Tk 20 crore soft-term loan from the government. “We are passing through a difficult time...we even cannot expand our tea estates simply for lack of fund,” BTC Chairman Daniel Islam told newsmen here recently. To overcome the problem, he said, Bangladeshi Tea Council, an organisation of tea garden owners, has applied to the government for the loan. At present, there are 158 tea gardens in Sylhet, Moulvibazar Habiganj and Chittagong on 1,13,863 hectares of allotted land. The present tea gardens covered only 48,670 hectares or 42.70 percent of the land allotted for setting up of tea gardens. The BTC Chairman said the remaining 8,900 hectares of land have been left unused, as those cannot be brought under tea farming. Expert said plantation of new saplings on 12,800 hectares of the existing tea gardens is necessary, as tea plants on the gardens have become too old. “It costs Tk 1.5 lakh per hectare in creating a new tea garden and it’s a long-term investment, which is not possible without bank loan, and Bangladesh Krishi Bank is unable to meet the demand for such loan,” he said. Bank sources said the number of loan defaulters among tea garden owners is negligible and the loan recovery rate in the sector is 99 percent. Of the 158 tea gardens, British companies own 26 while Tea Board three, local companies 55 and private entrepreneurs 61. BTC Chairman Daniel Islam said eight projects were implemented for the development of the tea industry at a cost of Tk 135 crore from British government. “The quality of tealeaves has improved with the completion of the projects,” he said. At present, the growth of tea production is 1.7 percent while the domestic demand for tea is rising by 3.2 percent. “Those days are not far away when there will be no available tea for export. So, allout efforts are needed to boost tea production for which government patronisation is a must.” Daniel urged the government to reconstruct the roads, bridges and culverts inside the gardens from its annual development programme to help reduce the production cost of tealeaves. Identifying loadshedding of power as another major problem, he said uninterrupted electricity supply is key to better output in tea gardens. “Power generation through generator only raises our production cost,” he said, urging the authorities concerned to install power plants in tea garden areas to ensure uninterrupted power supply in tea estates. |