The Hindu : Business : New technology for tea processing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 25, 2007
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New technology for tea processing

Indrani Dutta

Tea Board ties up with IIT, Kharagpur, to evolve a process

To set up Centre for Tea Technology
Project planned for mapping gardens

KOLKATA: In a bid to totally overhaul the century-old Indian tea-processing techniques, the Tea Board has tied up with the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, to evolve a process that was in tune with times and would save on costs, time and space.

Tea Board Director, G. Boriah, told The Hindu that the mandate given to IIT would include the development of a new technology in the long-term, while evolving a short-term technology that would cut energy costs and increase efficien cy. The Rs. 15-crore project with a five-year timeframe, also carries a mandate on increasing workers’ efficiency and developing value-added product-derivatives that concentrate on the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical value of tea.

The Union Minister of State for Commerce, Jairam Ramesh, will visit the premier institute to view the ongoing work in this respect. He will also visit the Remote Sensing Centre of the ISRO on the IIT campus where a project is planned for mapping the gardens for better monitoring. He said IIT, Kharagpur, was one of the few institutes, which specialised in agricultural engineering and a similar project was in the pipeline for the coffee industry. He also said that a Centre for Tea Technology would be set up at Rajarhat near Salt Lake, as a joint venture of the Tea Board and the IIT.

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