Problems faced by small tea growers in adoption of tea cultivation practices in Assam

Tea industry plays an important role in the state's economy as well as India's economy and also contribute to the employment generation and poverty alleviation of the country. The study was conducted by selecting the districts of Upper Brahmaputra Valley Zone of Assam which comprises of the highest concentrated small tea growers (STGs) i.e., Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and Golaghat. Multistage purposive cum random sampling design was used for selection of respondents. A total of 400 (200 trained and 200 untrained) respondents constituted the sample of the study. Weighted mean score (WMS) was used to find out the intensity of the problems. The total rank scored for each problem was obtained by multiplying the frequency of problems with the respective weightage and adding them up. Then, the mean score of each of the problems was found out along with their respective rank. The major problem faced by the small tea growers in adopting recommended cultivation practices as perceived by them was high cost of planting materials, inadequate knowledge regarding infilling, high cost of some fungicides and fertilizer, inadequate knowledge in the use of pesticides, inadequate knowledge on soil pH and its management, lack of awareness about the method of propagation and advantages of mulching, non-availability of pruning machine.