Training tea workers to apply pesticides
Training tea workers to apply pesticides
In October the Tea Board of India conducted an Awareness Program on Plant Protection Code (PPC) for the small tea growers of North Bengal. Dr. A. Basu Majumder, Tea Board research officer, discussed in detail the various aspects of the plant protection code, its aim and objectives, and various provisions for its implementation.
More than 80 smallholder farmers from various self-help groups of small tea growers participated in the workshop and took part in discussions about major insect pests, diseases, and weeds that cause problems for tea, detailed strategies on their integrated management, and the dos and don’ts of pesticide spraying. Participants were also given a handout in Bengali summarizing these important discussion points.
Bijoy Gopal Chakravarty, president of the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Association (CISTA), congratulated the Tea Board for such an initiative in providing technical support on the usage of pesticides in tea cultivation. He said that such workshops in regional languages will not only help growers in producing quality green leaves but also enable them to reduce the cost of agro inputs by the correct choice of pesticides.