Tripura tea workers get skill development training to boost production

Improving the socio-economic condition of the people in northeast is a top priority of the government. In order to do so, several skill development workshops and training programmes are being held regularly.

Recently, a training scheme for skill development of the tea workers was launched in Tripura to provide scientific knowledge to the workers and give a boost to production.

Implemented by the National Skill Development Corporation through its various training partners, it aims to provide scientific knowledge to the traditional tea growers as well as to those interested in joining this sector.

"Whoever is working-whether they are workers, field staff or sub staff, they should know how to do things in a technical way. So that in this process productivity of the garden will increase and in this way everyone will be benefitted," said Siddharth Choedhury, an organiser.

"This programme has perfectly bridged the gap. We have seen large number of people from cooperative gardens, small tea growers coming in large numbers and attending the programme and using the knowledge for direct benefit to their gardens," added A. Mukherjee, tea estate manager.

The one-month long training programme imparts skills on various aspects of growing tea, including the preparation of nurseries, choosing saplings, use of fertilizers and maximizing the yield.

Upon completing the training, the trainees will be awarded with a certificate from the government and National Skill Development Corporation, along with a monetary reward.

The scheme is a part of Standard Training Assessment and Rewards (STAR) and was launched by the government last year to encourage people to acquire skills for different job roles.

The programme is expected to benefit over 10000 small tea growers of the state.

"I have been working in a tea garden, but during training I got an opportunity to learn many new things like the use of fertilizers, cutting of tea plants, spraying of medicines and examination of the soil, which I was not aware of earlier. We have learnt how to increase our production and this has benefitted us a lot," said Sanjib Das, small tea grower.

"Since for the last many years my family has been involved with tea plantation and we have large land area, I am taking this training so that after completion of it I can have my own tea garden and earn a livelihood," added Namita Acharjee, a trainee.

The skill development training will help the tea growers and workers in the northeast to improve tea production and quality.