Photo Courtesy: nenow
Guwahati: The Tea Research Association has launched TocklAI, a specialized artificial intelligence model created for the global tea industry. The platform converts over 100 years of research from Assam’s Tocklai Tea Research Institute into an accessible digital tool. Officials debuted the system Thursday at the group’s 62nd Annual General Meeting at the Tollygunge Club in Kolkata.
Attendees included Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Textiles Pabitra Margherita, Tea Board of India CEO C. Murugan, and IFFCO managing director K. J. Patel. TocklAI uses a retrieval-augmented generation system to pull answers from verified archives. Growers can query the system on pest management, soil health, plant nutrition, and climate adaptation. TRA Secretary Joydeep Phukan is leading the project. He noted, "Small tea growers now produce more than half of India’s tea, yet they have the least access to research."
The project digitizes 2,000 scientific publications. Completion should take 18 months. Development involved scientists from Tocklai, the Tea Board of India, and Vishal Misra of Columbia University. TRA Chairman Suneel Singh Sikand expects this tool to protect the industry as exports faced a 16 percent decline between January and July 2026. Shipping disruptions and conflict in West Asia fueled the drop. Total exports reached 270 million kg, worth over Rs 8,300 crore in 2025-26.
Sikand warned of a potential tea supply crunch after 2037. He proposed a national program to uproot old bushes and implement regenerative soil management. Meanwhile, the TRA released TV 36. It is a new, climate-resilient tea clone. IFFCO also unveiled Nano Urea Plus and Nano DAP for tea crops after four years of trials showed 8 to 14 percent yield gains. The association is now creating a global framework on climate change for the Food and Agriculture Organization and identifying flavor compounds to protect the identity of Darjeeling tea.
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