Let me tell you the story of my uncle, who shifted to tea cultivation as a small tea grower and contributed to the larger economic growth of the region in his capacity. This is not just his story, but about a huge section of our ambitious Assamese people. They became the backbone of an entire industry, contributing to the history of Assam tea and are now thriving.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the prices of raw tea leaves rose fast. People in Assam saw a new way to earn money. Many started planting tea on small plots or leased land. They had no factories of their own. Unemployed local youth began collecting fresh tea leaves from these growers, and they sold the leaves to big tea estates, making a profit for everyone.
This was also a time when insurgency was fading. Economic hope was in the air even though government jobs were rare and private jobs were almost non-existent. Young people in Assam tried many things. Some bought rice cheaply and sold it for a higher price, while others tried mushroom farming or selling raw areca nut, our local “tamul”. Just so you know, Titabar, my hometown, is famous for its rich rice fields as well as the quality. The Assam Rice Research Institute, Titabar, is one of the oldest in the world.
My uncle and his family had their house just next to ours. They had a small piece of land, of about 5 to 6 katha(this is a land measure in our region), that was earlier barren or had shrubs growing around. One fine day, when I was small, I saw a big truck unloading lots of tea saplings, packed in soil and small plastic grower bags, into their backyard. Within the next couple of days, a farmer was tilling the land with his bull and the plough. Eventually, he also dug some trenches in the land for water to flow, just as required in a tea garden. Tea plants expect non-stagnant water availability. Hence, you would mostly see tea gardens flourishing in hilly lands or uneven plains, where water can drain easily.
Finally, within a couple of days, the tea garden was ready. Another thing I observed was that some other taller plant saplings were planted scantily in the same land, and I was not sure why it was done until later. These plants would grow tall and provide shade to the tea plants and enhance growth.
Once the tea leaves were ready for harvesting, my uncle also employed a pair of ladies and occasionally other people to pluck the tea leaves fresh every other evening. The local youth, a cousin of mine, would come with his pickup vehicle, measure the leaves, pay my uncle the due and transport the tea leaves to a distant factory. He would collect tea from multiple small tea plantations every day. In the next couple of years, this guy made it big in this field by dint of hard work and eventually became a big businessman from our locality. He was not the only example who made it big. I came across other such people and businessmen, who eventually earned handsomely in the following years. Some of them eventually switched to other businesses, but their fame remained as the pioneers of small-scale tea businesses.
But not everyone found success. As more youths joined, competition grew. The supply of quality leaves did not keep up as growing good tea takes hard work, care, and money. If you had resources, you could earn more. If not, you risk losing everything. Unpredictable weather made things harder. My maternal uncles had sugarcane fields and earned well. When they switched to tea, they struggled. Most sold their land and settled with what they had.
Several small tea growers from my locality still hold on. But the market has now settled and corrected itself.
Small Tea Growers of Assam and their Contributions over the Years
This local story is part of a much bigger change. In 1990, Assam had only 657 small tea growers. By 2011, the number had jumped to almost 70,000. By 2016, there were over 84,500. In 2022, Assam had 120,000 small tea growers, and by 2023, the number crossed 125,000. These growers now cultivate over 117,000 hectares. They produced more than half of Assam’s tea, about 52% in 2022. In March 2025 alone, small tea growers produced 17.75 million kg of Assam’s total 27.52 million kg tea output.
| Year | No. of Small Tea Growers | Land Under Cultivation (hectares) | Quantity Produced (million kg) | Number of Small Tea Growers |
| 1990 | 657 | ~2,000* | Data not available | Data not available |
| 2001 | 28,585 | 27,878 | Data not available | Data not available |
| 2011 | ~70,000 | 47,800 | Data not available | ~29% |
| 2016 | 84,591 | 82,250 | Data not available | ~35% |
| 2017-18 | – | – | – | 42.18% |
| 2018 | – | 337,690 (total Assam) | 304.49 (STGs) | 44.01% |
| 2022 | ~120,000 | ~117,000 | Data not available | ~52% |
| 2023 | 125,484 | 117,304 | Data not available | 47.77% |
| 2024 | 133,626 | – | Data not available | 47.25% |
Notes:
- The 1990 land figure is an estimate based on average farm size.
- The quantity produced for some years is not available due to a lack of source data.
- Land under cultivation and the number of growers are rounded to the nearest available figures from sources.
- Percentage contribution refers to the share of total Assam tea production from small tea growers.
Key Details:
- The average holding size of small tea growers has shrunk from 2.76 hectares in 2001 to around 0.97 hectares by 2016.
- In 2018, small tea growers produced 304.49 million kg of tea, making up 44.01% of Assam’s total production.
- By 2022–2024, small tea growers contributed 47–52% of Assam’s total tea output, cultivating over 117,000 hectares.
A small tea grower creates jobs for many in a region. They have helped rural families earn better. The government has noticed this growth. Financial support and schemes now aim to help small growers form self-help groups and farmer-producer organisations. Technical support from Assam Agriculture University and Tocklai Tea Research Station has improved yields and quality.
Still, there are challenges in this field. Many a small tea grower struggles with finance, price drops, and a lack of their factories, and hence, often sells leaves at low prices to big gardens. Yet, their spirit and hard work have changed Assam’s economy and landscape.
Today, a small tea grower is the backbone of Assam’s tea industry, as their journey shows the power of ambition, risk, and community. From a few hundred in the 90s to over a hundred thousand now, their story is one of hope, struggle, and real change.
My Uncle and his Small Tea Garden
Let’s end the story with that of my uncle’s tea garden in his backyard. After about twenty years, my uncle finally let go of his tea garden. Age had caught up with him, and the plants needed more care than he could give. Costs were rising while his interest diminished by the day, owing to the growing difficulties. Yet every morning, as I woke and looked out at those lush green rows stretching into the distance, I felt a quiet awe. The garden, so carefully tended, looked like a living work of art, order and beauty drawn in green.
There is something deeply philosophical and serene about a tea garden, as it stands as a meeting place between human effort and nature’s will. My uncle’s tea garden was never just a patch of cultivated land. It was a testament to hope, to patience, and to the quiet dignity of tending to something beyond oneself. In the changing leaves and shifting light, I discovered the truth that all gardens reveal. You constantly move through transitions in life, and you find meaning not in possession but in care and attention.
Even as the garden passed from his hands, its memory remains, as a green epiphany of what it means to work, to nurture, and to let go.
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