Abali Organic tea and amla plantation a description

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Url: http://www.ilovekolkata.in/index.php/Escape-Route/Green-getaways.html

Search date: 18th June 2009
Saharia Organic Farm, Jaipur

Binod Saharia, who has gone the organic way more out of passion than driven by business opportunity, owns this farm. In 1992, he pooled all his resources and acquired 18 hectares of barren wasteland 25km from Jaipur (on the Jaipur-Chomu road). He had planted thousands of amla trees to create a mini-forest.

Today, he has turned it into a full-fledged organic farm with nine mud and clay houses (yes, minus air-conditioners) with attached bathrooms and powered by solar electricity. The food is purely organic obtained from the farm. Even the swimming pool is cleaned organically with the help of potlis containing neem leaves to kill the germs. You not only get to sample the local produce which are organically grown (amla, wheat, barley) but get hands-on training in organic farming from the farmers.

Hot ticket! The tariff for a night in a mud and clay cottage is Rs 800 per couple. This excludes meals, air/rail fares and all surface transfers to and from the farm. Activities include farm tour, bird-watching tours, yoga classes on demand and volunteer work on the farm. No extra charges for these activities.

Url: http://www.dare.co.in/opportunities/agriculture-rural/farming-health-and...

Search date: 18th June 2009
The trend has already started in India. Organic resorts are the newest offerings from Incredible India. Saharia Organic Resort and Farm in Jaipur, Rajasthan is one such name. The farm was acquired in 1992, which was a barren wasteland back then. Binod Saharia, the owner, pooled his resources together and planted thousands of amla trees on the land to create a mini-forest. It was an organic farm till 2003, when excited by the enthusiastic response he received from volunteers who visited his farm from all over the world, he decided to put up 9 cottages for the visitors. The rooms have been done in earthy style with mud and clay, with attached restrooms. However, as Binod Saharia says, some tourists preferred to use the bushes to experience rural India in the truest sense besides the uncontaminated joy of doing it in the woods! The food is purely organic and obtained from their farm. Besides this farm in Jaipur, they have organic tea farms in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh as well. The tea leaves obtained from these farms are served to the guests in the resort and also supplied under the brand name “Abali Organic Tea” to major coffee chains such as the Café Coffee Day.

Url: http://www.sahariaorganicresort.com/

Search date: 18th June 2009
In 1992 we bought about 18 hectares of barren farmland and planted more then 10000 trees of various varieties including 2500 Amla (Emblica officinalis) trees, to create a mini forest. In 2006 we plan to plant 5000 trees. With great difficulty we have managed to save the trees from harsh Rajasthan climate, (from 0-45˚C over the course of the year), the trees continue to grow and give fruits.

Slowly and gradually the trees grew bigger, and people came to know about our organic farm and started visiting to see the organic practices. In 2003 we joined various international organic volunteer organizations (www.wwoof.org) and started receiving volunteers from all over the world. After seeing the success of the organic farming and the volunteers program we have now started 9 rooms, farm stay, on the farm. This is to promote and create awareness amongst the masses for sustainable organic farming and pollution free environment. We are now ready to welcome our esteemed guests for a "different vacation" idea, for which the time has come.

Please explore our website to know more about us, our idea, our methodology and our mission. Feel free to contact us for further queries or suggestions. And also visit our other site www.abaliorganictea.com Abali Organic Tea Estate, Arunachal Pradesh If you want to get a taste of organic tea, head straight to this tea estate located in the Lower Dibang Valley, 18km from Roing in Arunachal Pradesh. Nature lovers will be charmed by this place as it’s swathed in green for as far as the eye can see. This farm is also owned by Binod Saharia and he has turned it into a paying enterprise. He has built two wooden cottages here with thatched roofs where tourists can go to get a firsthand experience of sustainable farming. A plantation tour with a local guide is something else to be done. The nearest airport is Dibrugarh in Assam from where one has to cross the Brahmaputra to get to Sadiya town in Arunachal Pradesh. This is a journey of about 90 minutes. From there it takes another 90 minutes to reach the estate.

Hot ticket!
Accommodation in the tea estate’s wooden cottages costs Rs 1,000 per night per couple. Plantation tours are included in the price. However food is not and rail/airfares are also excluded. Valid from September 1 to April 2010. The estate is closed during the monsoon.

Url: http://www.thesimpleleaf.com/shop/tea/dawn/

Search date: 18th June 2009
Dawn Organic Indian Black Tea, Abali Estate, Arunachal
And now for something completely different. If you haven’t heard about Arunachal Pradesh or Abali before, prepare to be delighted. When we first received this tea, we just had to stare and wonder at these gorgeous, long, hand-rolled orthodox leaves with prominent tips. Simply smelling the aroma from the leaf had us floored before we had even taken our first sip. When brewed, it produced a wonderful mellow, golden liquor that was pleasantly smooth and refreshing. Tasting this tea brought back visions of a light mist hovering over tea bushes at dawn. Enjoy hot or iced. Be sure to check out our exclusive Behind The Cup interview with the producer of this tea. It’s a remarkable story about sustainability that you will not want to miss.

Url: http://www.thesimpleleaf.com/shop/tea/shanti/

Search date: 18th June 2009
Shanti Organic Indian Green Tea, Abali Estate, Arunachal

Shanti is a Sanskrit word meaning peace and tranquility, which is exactly how we feel every time we drink it. The beautiful green leaves and prominent tips of this tea will be the first thing to grab your attention. When brewed, these leaves unfurl and produce a wonderfully mellow, light green liquor that is exceptionally smooth. The flavor is fresh, slightly vegetal and fruity. Little known Arunachal Pradesh, in the north eastern part of India, has arrived! Remember: never use boiling water or milk with green tea as they will ruin the flavor. Let the water cool down a bit after it comes to a boil. Enjoy hot or iced. Be sure to check out our exclusive Behind The Cup interview with the producer of this tea. It’s a remarkable story about sustainability that you will not want to miss.

Url: http://www.thesimpleleaf.com/behind-the-cup/binod-saharia/

Search date: 18th June 2009

Binod Saharia:  I was born in Dibrugarh, Assam in 1957. I did my schooling at Daly College Indore and at St Xavier’s School Jaipur. I then moved east to attend college at St Xavier’s College, Kolkata and graduated in 1978. My family had been bankers for UK based tea companies like James Finlay (Finlays), Warren Tea Ltd and Jokai Tea Holdings. We also had other business interests in Arunachal Pradesh (formerly known as India’s North East Frontier Agency — NEFA). Our corporate base was in Sadiya, Assam. Interestingly, you might like to know that the first Assamese tea plants are thought to have been discovered in Sadiya! How did Abali get started? I joined my family’s business in 1978 and inherited a negative balance of Rs. 5 million. Once we had managed to clear all our debts, we started a tea factory at Rupai in 1992 and established a conventional tea plantation. Since we already had various business interests in Arunachal Pradesh, I saw an opportunity to plant tea there. In 1998,we started growing tea on a 65 hectare plot at Abali, in Arunachal Pradesh. Abali is approximately 25km from the town of Roing, in the lower Dibang valley district of Arunachal Pradesh. Tea bushes at Abali / Photo courtesy Binod Saharia © Most people in the west (or anywhere for that matter) would not ordinarily think of Arunachal Pradesh when they think of tea. Tell us a little bit about the history of tea production in Arunachal. Arunachal Pradesh really consists of two major portions — one is the Himalayan mountains and the other is the foothills which are extension of the Brahmaputra Valley in Assam. This is an area little known to the outside world. After the ban on timber felling in 1992 people went in for alternative income sources like tea and ginger and orange cultivation. We consider ourselves one of the pioneers of tea in Arunachal. Why did you decide to convert Abali from conventional production to organic? Well, everything was going well at Abali until the summer of 2003. That summer, a mountain stream happened to change course due to deforestation in the upper elevations of the Himalayas. The catastrophic result was that it flooded more then half the estate. Obviously, all of us were very dejected and almost gave up hope for Abali. Tea plucking in progress at Abali / Photo courtesy Binod Saharia © However, let me first take you back to the year 1993. I had bought some land in Jaipur, Rajasthan and started organic farming. We named our organic farm Saharia Organic Resort, and it had proven itself quite a success. In 2003, I began to reflect on the success of Saharia resorts, and I began to wonder if this could not be replicated at Abali. This gave me the inspiration and courage to attempt to convert Abali to organic.

But we needed technical expertise that we didn’t have readily on hand. How did you go about finding the right skills? Swami Valmiki Srinivasa Ayangarya. I had nothing more to lose so I took my chances. To get the best technical knowledge I organized an organic tea conference in April 2004 and invited experts in organic agriculture from all over the country. It was through this process that I met Swami Valmiki Srinivasa Ayangarya. Swami Valmiki is a Hindu monk, and he came to us with ideas that we thought were outlandish, and that no sane person would have agreed to implement. However, by this point, I had nothing more to lose so I took my chances, and gave him a free hand at the Abali tea plantation to do all the research and experimentation with organic and Vedic farming that he wanted. Vedic farming is based on the teachings of our ancient Hindu scriptures, or Vedas. While Ayurveda is the Vedic medical science for humans, Vrikshayurveda is for plants. It was authored by Surapala, and contains various topics related to the science of plants, including planting, selection of soil, watering, fertilizing, how to deal with diseases and a lot more. So, in a nutshell, this is how I got into organic teas. What was it about the philosophy of Swami Valmiki that had such an impact on you and convinced you to embrace Vrikshayurveda in your tea garden? The biggest driving force was his conviction and willingness to implement his methods of using manure and herbal insecticides, and embracing weeds to prepare the soil. He is also reverently called the Surapala (the author of Vrikshayurveda) of modern times. Here is an excerpt from Swami Valmiki’s text on organic tea: “The method of organic cultivation called ‘Vrikshayurveda’ was never known to anyone here, perhaps not to many people in the world. By now I had successfully developed ‘herbal kunapa’, the liquid manure, growth promoter and insecticide, which showed rapid results when applied to the soil. I had also developed the method of preparing various herbal insecticides. By this time I had learned to identify the plants in the wild, which are called weeds in the present-day agriculture. But for me the weed is an essential input. So, having done a basic work in the development of Vrikshayurveda techniques, I was confident of succeeding in organic tea cultivation.” Tasting freshly made tea at the estate / Photo courtesy Binod Saharia © You’re very passionate about sustainability when it comes to farming practices – could you describe briefly how you put the philosophy of sustainability to use at Abali? All our inputs are grown or cultivated on the estate itself. We have more than 25% of our land dedicated to other crops or for cattle grazing grounds. Our fertilizers, growth promoters, insecticides and pesticides are all prepared on the plantation with inputs grown on the farm. We don’t have separate fertilizers, promoters, insecticides and pesticides, as most conventional farming operations do. They are all integrated holistically - this is what Swami Valmiki calls “herbal kunapa”. For us, sustainability means giving the right food at the right time to the plant. If we continue following this golden rule, soil health is bound to improve. As long as we continue to have multi-cropping and holistic farming, we will be fully sustainable. You mentioned multi-cropping. You also grow maize, paddy, ginger and turmeric at Abali. How does this help? We decided to grow them because they are part of the inputs for our tea bushes. More importantly, our employees get organic food to eat. Moreover our cattle get organic feed and a multicultural crop environment is created wherein pest and insect attacks on tea and other crops is minimized. So there are a whole host of reasons that we do multi-cropping. The benefits for us are obvious.

Tell us a little bit about how you make your teas. John Marbiniang, an engineer and organic tea planter from Shillong, Meghalaya, India, designed a mini thatch and bamboo factory for processing tea leaves. This is a design that has not been tried in the tea industry until now. The Abali tea factory, designed by John Marbiniang / Photo courtesy Binod Saharia © The tea leaves are plucked by the nimble fingers of the women on the plantation. They pluck only about 3-5 kilos of green leaf per day. The leaves are rolled in mini rolling tables without any pressure so that they remain intact and the juices remain in the leaves. Then we oxidize them in an open area where fresh oxygen-filled air comes in from the Himalayas. We dry the leaves slowly at low temperatures so that the flavor remains in the teas. We use fire wood from our plantations (again, sustainable) for indirect heating. We use solar panels to light the building and store electricity, which in turn runs our dryers. We are currently looking for technical and financial help in designing new solar power system to run the motors on our rolling table. Freshly plucked green tea / Photo courtesy Binod Saharia © Fresh leaves begin their metamorphosis into green tea. / Photo courtesy Binod Saharia © While making our green tea, we steam the leaves in bamboo containers as was done in ancient times by the Mishmi and Singhpho tribes of Arunachal Pradesh. At no time do we let tea leaves come in contact with iron, because it spoils the quality of teas and gives it a metallic taste. Tea bushes at Abali enjoy a gorgeous view / Photo courtesy Binod Saharia © Does Arunachal Pradesh’s geographic location confer any unique advantages that go into making your tea so distinctive Most of Arunachal Pradesh has a rain forest like climate with the jungles and mountains still largely untouched. Thus the fresh Himalayan air contributes to making our tea’s flavor so distinctive. The soil’s carbon and humus content make it naturally organic and one does not need to put in chemical fertilizer. By not using chemicals we let the friendly predators take care of the harmful ones. Thus we have very negligible insect and pest attack. We don’t remove weeds completely as that is a common practice in conventional farming. Instead, we just keep them below plucking level. Also we use minimum of fossil fuel so that our teas get the best quality Himalayan air for oxidation. Getting to Abali is fun! / Photo courtesy Binod Saharia © What is the biggest challenge Abali faces? For us the biggest challenge is converting the entire factory to run on solar power. This is our current focus. Tell us a little bit about the people of the region? What impact do you think your tea farm has on their daily lives? The Idu Mishmi, Beautiful people in a beautiful land / Photo courtesy Binod Saharia © The region is the picture of calm serenity, swathed in a sea of bright forest green as the tea bushes wait patiently to reveal their secrets. It is lodged in the eastern-most part of the country on the foothills of the Himalayas. This area is known in the ancient Indian scriptures as the Gandharvanagri. This is also the land of the Idu Mishmi and Adi Padum tribe. These people came centuries ago from China across the Himalayas. Even today they have kinsmen on the other side of the border in China. They were a very ferocious people and until the early 1900’s were fighting the British near Sadiya. We think our farm has helped the local population economically, because the tea bushes are theirs. We are able to buy their tea leaves and process them in our factories. We pay a premium for organic leaves thus encouraging them to go organic. You mentioned your other organic project in Rajasthan earlier — tell us about Saharia Organic Resort. At the resort we are not simply trying to sell eco-friendly cottages. On the contrary, we are attempting to create an experience where people can experience Indian rural life at its best. We make our guests an integral part of that life. We give visitors fresh air to breathe and organic food to eat. You’ll be woken up by birds rather then the sound of alarms. One really has to visit the place to understand what it is like. We even have an organically maintained swimming pool! After all, agriculture in India is a way of life and not an industry. We are grateful to Binod for sharing Abali’s remarkable story with us. More information on Abali atabaliorganictea.com and on Saharia organic resort at sahariaorganicresort.com. To purchase Abali teas, please visit our product pages for Dawn and Shanti.