The Tea Research Association (TRA), which runs the renowned Tocklai research institute in Jorhat, Assam, unveiled TocklAI at its annual general meeting in Kolkata on 8 October. The association bills it as the first artificial-intelligence model designed specifically for the global tea industry.
Rather than drawing on the open internet like general-purpose chatbots, TocklAI builds its answers from the institute's own verified research archive. Planters, estate managers and smallholders can ask about pests and diseases, soil health, plant nutrition, tea clones, replanting, climate adaptation, processing and food-safety compliance. More than 2,000 scientific publications have been digitised so far, and the full project is expected to take around 18 months.
The timing matters for Indian tea, and for Assam's black teas in particular: auction prices have softened and first-half exports trailed 2025 levels. TRA chairman Suneel Singh Sikand put the case simply, saying Tocklai holds "a century of data that no one else in the world has."
Source: Northeast Now