What will drive the small tea growers towards environment-friendly cultivation? Implications from the tea sector in Assam, India

The small tea growers (STGs), a considerable part of the tea industry, contribute significantly to the rural economy in tea-producing countries. As tea cultivation has become a high-input high-output system, it raises concerns for the sustainability of the STGs, and thus to sustainable tea production and overall agricultural sustainability. There is a need to encourage the STGs to uptake environment-friendly cultivation to fight against challenges including livelihood, health hazards, and the consequences of climate change. This study draws lessons from the adoption of organic cultivation by some of the STGs in Assam, India. It uses mixed methods research. The qualitative analyses found that compared to conventional production, organic production provided avenues to greater learning, greater awareness on environmental management, fostered new networks, and promoted entrepreneurship based on small-scale tea processing. The quantitative analyses identified the important factors that influenced the growers' adoption decision. Large-scale adoption of organic cultivation by the STGs relies on how the policy interventions leverage the decisive factors such as training and learning, income perception, establishment of STGs owned factories, and others. The findings have significant implications for policy-making and practice to promote sustainability concerning the smallholders in the developing countries who rely on cultivation of cash crops.