HAPPENING -- 7:
ECO-RESTORATION
AND MOBILE APPS LAUNCHING BY INDCOSERVE
BY
P S SUNDAR
The
Indcoserve, India’s largest tea cooperative federation headquartered in Coonoor
in The Nilgiris district and managed as a co-operative under the Government of
Tamil Nadu state has come out with massive modernisation projects balancing
technology with the tradition of eco-friendly manufacture of tea.
In
pursuit of this, the Chairman of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development (NABARD) Dr G R Chintala inaugurated two significant projects at
the Indco Tea Factory in Kattabettu village near Coonoor.
The
first was an Eco-restoration project – a joint venture of Indcoserve and an
NGO, Keystone Foundation.
Dr
Chintala said that since the work for the project commenced in September 2020,
the eco-system around Kattabettu has undergone mentionable improvements.
He
said that NABARD will assist five Indco factories for modernisation at an
outlay of ₹ 18.54 crore.
The
Principal Secretary to TN Government Supriya Sahu who is also Chief Executive
Officer of Indcoserve, said that Indcoserve will become a leader in promoting
environment sustainable manufacture of tea. This is significant because more than 200 tea
factories function in the Nilgiris Biosphere which spreads across 5,200 square
kilometres enriched with unique flora and fauna in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and
Karnataka. Consequently, these tea
factories bear responsibility to protect this biodiversity by adopting eco-sustainable
manufacturing practices, she emphasised.
She
said that invasive plants in the locality were removed and shola trees planted
as part of this project. A ‘Wetlands
Park’ and an “information Centre” have been established there to strengthen
awareness creation for the benefit of the public at large, she said.
While
Kattabettu factory is the first of the 16 Indco factories under this project,
she said that eco-restoration work is under progress in Mahalinga factory as
well.
“As
for modernisation, Kattabettu tea factory has been renovated to manufacture
high quality teas, including speciality teas, to provide a national and
international platform to the tea small farmers", Supriya Sahu said.
This includes a state-of-the-art tea tasting
room and conference facility to enable buyers sample the teas in the premises
itself”, Supriya Sahu said.
The
Nilgiris district Collector Innocent Divya said that tea factories should focus
on preserving ecology and help framers get better prices.
Appreciating
the efforts, Coonoor MLA Shanthi Ramu urged Indcoserve to modernise all the 16
factories.
Kattabettu
Indco Factory Chairperson Sumathi was among those present.
The
second project which Dr Chintala inaugurated at Kattabettu was “Indco’s Tea
House’, a cafeteria serving top quality teas of Indco factories. This is the second such outlet, the first
being the one in Bedford Coonoor inaugurated in November 2020.
Following
this, Dr G R Chintala launched two hi-tech mobile applications at Indcoserve headquarters
in Coonoor.
Appreciating
the efforts of Indcoserve, he said that this is the need of the hour as it will
help to increase the productivity. He
said that NABARD will focus on helping farmers meet their challenges and market
their farm produces.
Indcoserve’s
Adviser Srinivasan Sreeram, who was the leader for this project, highlighted
the technical features of the Apps and explained how it would help to improve
farmers’ profitability.
Supriya
Sahu said that of the two Apps, one is “INDCO@TEA” aimed at helping the 30,000
small growers who are members of the Indco factories rise to better trajectory
with on-time information including green leaf price, payments due to them,
field practices and weather pattern.
The
other App “Ooty Tea” aims at enhancing sales through regular monitoring especially
at Public Distribution System outlets and rations hops, she disclosed.
This
occasion also brought cheer to the tea lovers in Tamil Nadu
as
they can henceforth buy at affordable price at their ration shops and enjoy the
unique aromatised ‘Cardamom flavoured Tea’ which is a connoisseurs’ delight.
This
follows the launching of the same by Indcoserve. “This ‘Ooty Tea Yelakkai’ ( Elachi tea) will
be available along with our flagship brand ‘Ooty Tea’ in ration shops. We will introduce more varieties soon”, Supriya
Sahu said.
The
Indcoserve Chairman Sivakumar, General Manager M Akbar, Deputy General manager
Sankaranarayana Pillai, Chairmen and MDs of Indco factories were among those
present.
(response can also be sent to: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com)
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