Overview
In 2022, a pioneering assessment using the TRINITEA application took place among smallholder tea growers in Panchagarh and Thakurgaon districts. This initial phase involved farmer registration and self-assessment. The current assessment phase aims to refine data collection by incorporating GPS locations of farmers’ plots and onboarding new participants. The assessment covered Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, and Lalmonirhat districts, encompassing approximately 8543 targeted farmers to complete the self-assessment of the smallholder tea growers under the TRINITEA application, to capture the tea plot’s locations of the farmers, and to register the new farmers under the application. Moreover, the challenges faced by tea growers include not receiving fair prices for tea leaves, feeling uncomfortable providing information, fearing increased income tax, and giving away their gardens. The reduction in factory percentages and delayed prices have led to a loss of interest in tea production. High transportation and food costs, insults and threats to data enumerators, and potential VAT levies have also contributed to the lack of information. Geographical challenges, such as weather and people, also pose problems. Authorities should take steps to ensure fair prices, provide training on proper tea production, manage government subsidies, introduce a fixed selling price, export leaves to foreign countries, and stop unilateral price reductions by the factory.
