The initiative has been taken by the Assam branch of the Indian Tea Association (ABITA), in technical collaboration with the Bureau of Integrated Rural Development, a non-governmental organisation based in Guwahati.

The ITA's chief advisor, Kalyan Basu, said mustard seed cultivation in the state has traditionally been done by Hindu refugees from Bangladesh, and that too in a very limited way for household consumtion.

The ITA will help farmers grow the cash crop on a commercial basis with the help of intensive and innovative farming. The project is being implemented by the ABITA's agricultural development project, with the goal of penetrating every tea growing district in the state - Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sibsagar, Golaghat, Jorhat, Nagaon, North Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Darang and Kamrup. By givingthe farmers a cash crop, the planters hope to minimise the economic gap between the garden workers and the villagers living nearby.

Basu said a core committee of the ABITA has decided to form a registered a society, to be named the ABITA Grammin Krishi Unnayan Parishad, to oversee all aspects of the project.

Over a 1000 farmers are to get high-yielding varieties of mustard seed together with fertiliser at subsidised rates at Balipara, Naduar and Majuli blocks of Jorhat district and Chennaimari block of Dibrugarh district, according to Basu.

At Majuli, the largest riverine island in the world, a mustard seed development project has been set up covering around 150 bighas. As the island, in the Brahmaputra, is frequented by floods the ABITA plans to encourage seasonal paddy cultivation.

The ABITA reckons that the average yield from the mustard seed projects will be 2.5 quintal to 3.5 quintal per bigha, against the average of one quintal per bigha achieved from traditional seed varieties.