CIL Agrotech Ltd chairman Suresh Varma is the brainchild behind a new mobile phone app, Small Tea Leaf Exchange. It was launched recently for small tea growers at the District Library in Dibrugarh.
Dibrugarh deputy commissioner Laya Madduri, Tea Board chairman Prabhat Kamal Bezbaruah and SBI (digital and transaction banking) deputy general manager (Northeast circle) G.N. Deshpande launched the app.
It will facilitate direct transactions between the sellers and buyers. The application will allow small tea growers to upload their offer of green tea leaves, while buyers from organised gardens and bought leaf tea factories evaluate the offers and place their bids.
The application will be linked to the SBI Anywhere mobile application to facilitate digital transactions.
This app was the desire of Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal who always wanted better prices for small tea growers. The inputs of IITians in Mumbai and software engineers of Assam were also obtained for developing this technology.
The app will ease the problems faced by the small tea growers. It will solve pricing issues and transportation problems generally faced by small tea growers. They will be able to make an offer through the application and the buyers will collect it from their doorstep. It will ensure full transparency in the whole process.