MANUFACTURING PRACTICES OF TEA IN THE FACTORIES OF ASSAM

56 MANUFACTURING PRACTICES OF TEA IN THE FACTORIES OF ASSAM Dr. Rashida Tahira Noorain, Asst. Professor, Assam Rajiv Gandhi University of Cooperative Management, Sivasagar, Assam, India. ABSTRACT India is the largest producer, consumer, and exporter of tea. Of which, Assam contributes to more than half of the total tea production in India. Yet, Assam tea has been at times seen as inferior in quality. Assam tea has been subjected to criticisms many a time. Tea from Assam is no longer competitive at the national and international front. The study has attempted to explore the manufacturing process of tea in the factories and to explore the presence of variations in processing (if any) between the bought leaf and Estate Owned factory types. The study has attempted to explore the procedures followed before and during processing of tea in the factories and to draw a comparison of bought leaf tea factories with the estate owned ones. A descriptive exploratory study has been conducted in selected districts of the state with ten samples. Observations revealed the presence of gaps in the procedures of Bought Leaf Factories in comparison to the Estate Owned Factories. Keywords: Bought Leaf Tea Factory, Estate Owned Tea Factory, Leaf Count, Fermentation

57 Introduction: Tea is the most widely consumed and least expensive of all naturally occurring non-alcoholic beverages. Tea, as defined in the Tea Act, 1953 refers to the plant Camellia sinensis (L) O. Kuntze. It includes all varieties of the product commercially known as tea made from the leaves of the plant Camellia sinensis (L) O. Kuntze including green tea. The leaves of the said plant are processed, the marketed form of which is popularly known as Tea. The tea producing countries of the world have been categorized into three categories. The first category includes regions where tea has been cultivated since ancient times and includes China, Taiwan, Japan, and Vietnam. The second category includes regions with a cultivation history of around two centuries and includes India along with Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. The third category includes regions, which have come up very recently in the cultivation of the crop. Kenya, Uganda, Argentina are some regions. Tea rules the globe through a cup in over 115 countries where it is consumed daily. Interestingly, India is the lowest per capita consumer of tea in the world. Yet, India dominates the list with its Chai, as the largest producer, and overall consumer in the world volume wise. Tea industry is the second largest employer in India after Indian Railways. The major tea producers, India, China, Sri Lanka, Kenya, and Indonesia, account for more than 80 % (during 2012) of the global tea produce, with China, India Kenya and Sri Lanka producing 1.7, 1, 0.369 and 0.33 mln metric tonnes respectively. Between 2007-08 and 2011-12, exports grew from 470 million US$ to 670 million US$, at a rate of 9.2 per cent. In 2013-14, it was 746.46 million US$, Besides, India registered exports of 225.7 million kg in volume terms. India's tea exports accounted for approximately 78 per cent of total exports during the financial year 2013-14. Interestingly, the global tea market has seen a fluctuating picture overall in terms of unit value realization from tea. Of all the regions, the unit value realization for Kenya was seen to be increasing. According to Tea Board of India, the Indian tea industry as on 18.12.2009 has 1692 registered tea manufacturers, 2200 registered tea exporters, 5848 number of registered tea buyers and 9 tea Auction centers. Assam produces around 500 million kg of tea annually, which constitute 53 % of the total Indian tea production. During the calendar year 2012, Assam produced 590 million kg of tea. Of this around 70 million kg was exported. Assam tea is known for its strong liquor, rich taste and colour. Review of Existing Literature: a) Borah and Bhuyan (n.d.) revealed that the overall quality of tea is determined by the TF-TR analysis, which involves the percentage of TF content, percentage of TR content, ratio between TF and TR, total colour of the product and the percentage of brightness. In the same study, it has been revealed that the TR content gave the deep colour to tea liquor. It has been found that the brightness is directly proportional to the percentage of TF content present. b) Owuor (2006) has suggested total Theaflavin level and aroma parameters as determinants of tea quality. Baruah et al. (1986) as cited in the same study had proposed a ratio, known as Mahanta ratio, given by the sum of gas chromatic areas of terpenoid to non-terpenoid volatile flavour compunds. It has been found, that nonterpenoid flavour compounds with the desired aroma are present in tea. Owuor has developed a Volatile Flavour Compound Quality quantifying index, known as Owuor s flavour index, and given by sum of gas chromatic peak areas of volatile flavour compounds with a desirable flowery aroma to those with undesirable green grassy aroma. c) Bhuyan et al. (2009) conducted a study to identify the biochemical data for quality assessment of CTC tea, it was observed that the tea in the Brahmaputra valley had the highest theaflavin (TF), thearubigin (TR), brightness (BR), total colour (TC), low crude fibre content (CFC), and total polyphenol (TPP) followed by Dooars region and Barak valley. d) Kamunya et al. (2009) found that the type of tea quality depends on the tea cultivar, which is the raw material for manufacture. Jayaganesh and Venkatesan (2010) have found a positive correlation of the use of magnesium in the soil and theaflavins (TF) in tea leading to an increase in tea quality. Hence, the quality of green leaf is an essential determinant of tea quality. The agronomic practices and the leaf count are essential elements for this. e) Temple, Boxtel, and Clifford (2001) has suggested that a start temperature of 140 C falling to 95-100 C is sufficient to give the desired colour and taste to CTC tea. Variations around the start and fall temperatures will set the tolerance limits possible. The tolerance is usually specified by the designer but it must fall within the customers requirements. The acceptability of the product specifications when looked from the manufacturers

58 perspective refers to the process tolerance. Generally, processes do not perform within strict statistical control ranges. Therefore, it becomes imperative to make process adjustments and periodic preventive maintenance programs. f) Kumar & Muthumani (2006) found that the duration of fermentation is essential, since both increase and decrease in fermentation time can cause poor quality tea. Further, it has been stated in the study that increased fermentation time leads to increase of polymeric TRs. In addition, that TF and TRs do not alone contribute to good quality tea; it is drying at the optimum fermentation time that imparts tea with good, astringent properties and hence good quality. Objectives of the Study: 1. To understand the operations in the Tea Factories in the state of Assam 2. To explore the understanding of quality awareness during manufacturing of tea in the Tea Factories of Assam. Scope of the Study: 1. The study has been conducted in selected bought leaf factories in Golaghat, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, and Tinsukia district of Assam. 2. The study included both estate owned tea factories and bought leaf tea factories in the geography specified. Research Questions: R-1: How is the processing of tea carried out in a tea factory? R-2: What is the understanding in quality during the processing of tea in the tea factories in Assam? Methodology of the Study: 1. The present study is of descriptive exploratory type. 2. The population under consideration includes tea factories in the selected five districts of Assam as stated earlier which have been registered, with the Tea Board of India. 3. The sampling units under consideration are the tea factories. 4. Ten samples have been chosen for the study through convenient sampling process of which access and information to one factory could not be obtained. 5. Primary data have been collected from the factory employees using interview schedules. 6. Secondary data have been sought from relevant Journals and Research Papers during of the study. 7. Data have been collected through unstructured, uncontrolled, and non-participant observations. Observations during normal working environment at the factories have also been noted. Findings and results: a) The mean leaf count has been found to be 49 and 72.33 in the bought leaf and estate Owned tea factories respectively. Tremendous variation in the leaf counts were observed between the types of factories. While exploring the reasons for such discriminating values, it was revealed that it was done to make optimum utilization of capacity which otherwise would remain idle in the factory. b) The Bought Leaf Tea Factories are 10 km to 35 km away from the gardens, but for the Estate Owned Factories the distance varies from 1 to 12 km. This shows that the time taken for the leaves to reach the factories is also more for Bought Leaf Tea Factories. Consequently, the leaves are transported in larger bulks in vehicles to cut down on the costs. The packing density thus rises, compromising on the quality. c) Fermentation process monitoring is done by observable changes in colour for all the cases and not through actual monitoring of fermentation time. The change in colour, considered in the test may not be extremely reliable as it is very much subjective to individuals and could not be easily standardized for measurements. Hence, despite that fermentation duration is an essential parameter for assessing tea quality, yet monitoring of the process is not assessed by the duration of the process but by the changes in colour. The same have been found to have monitored on both the factory types. Floor Fermentation is usually practiced by the Estate Owned Factories whereas fermentation in Bought Leaf Factories is mostly done using CFMs.

59 d) Bought Leaf Tea Factories do not follow any procedure for checking the leaves before processing. The only criterion looked for is the leaf count, which as revealed is much lower than that in the Estate Owned Factories. e) The leaves from small growers are brought to the nearby Bought Leaf Factories for processing. Sometimes there are no such factories available nearby and at times, the capacity of such factories did not permit more leaves for processing. Under such conditions certain Estate Owned Factories used the processing facilities for processing bought leaves in addition to the leaves from own estates. f) The Estate Owned Factories made proper arrangements to ensure that both the leaves do not mix anywhere during processing. It was also revealed that when it comes to leaves from own estates, quality was given priority while for bought leaves quantity was given importance. The factories do not generally reject lots; sometimes because the leaves come of very small growers and far flung areas. g) The Estate Owned Factories gave sufficient importance to the leaf quality from the estates. The plantations are constantly under careful supervision lest there be any degradation of leaves used in the factory. Plucking norms are religiously followed. This has been possible as the control authority of the factory and the estates has been same. h) Bought Leaf Tea Factories in Assam have all modern layouts mostly U and Line type, facilitating easy visibility of the entire processing from various angles. The machines are new and as have been stated in conversations with the authorities of such factories, are more cost effective. The processes are automated and manual intervention is limited to spreading of the leaves on the withering troughs. This makes possible to reduce costs on manpower employed. Scope for future Research: 1. A study can be conducted exhaustively employing case-study method to explore the detailed operating processes prevailing in the Bought Leaf Tea Factories. 2. A cross-sectional descriptive study can be conducted for parameters of quality for both the types of factories. 3. A study can be conducted to understand the existing supply chain that operates from sourcing of leaves to the processing of leaves for the small tea growers. Conclusion: Assam contributes to more than half of the total tea production in India. In the light of the share of Assam in the Indian tea scenario and the fact that the industry has its roots deeply immersed with the life and culture of the state, there has been a growth of small tea growers in the state. This has necessitated the availability of processing centres for the tea grown in the small tea gardens. This need immensely contributed to the growth of Bought Leaf Tea Factories in the state. Assam tea has been at times seen as inferior in quality. It has also been subjected to the criticism of many an industry expert and academician in the context that the quality is seemingly degrading. Tea from Assam is no longer competitive at the national and international front. The manufacturing processes rampant in the Bought Leaf Tea Factories have been held accountable for this. The findings from the study have thrown light on the practices following at the factories for processing of tea leaves. The production volume of small tea growers is very small and is of diverse type owing to diversity of the agronomic procedures followed. Such diversity leads to variations in the quality of output. A strict plantation norm for the small tea growing sector would lead to a proper monitoring of the plantations and the diversity in leaf types may hence be taken care of. Besides, there is a huge volume lower stratum in tea market, where quality does not make much of a difference. This stratum is served by tea from the Bought Leaf Tea Factories. This necessitates a process so that the domestic consumers also get access to quality tea. Strict and frequent quality checks by the Tea Board at different levels of the supply chain may serve a workable solution to the problem. References: [1] Department of Commerce. (2007, August). Tea Board Manual 2001. Retrieved on July 10, 2010 via online access from http://commerce.nic.in/tea_act.pdf [2] V.N. Asopa. (2007). Competitiveness of Global Tea Trade. New Delhi: Oxford and IBH Publishing Company Pvt. Ltd., p.3.

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