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Tea industry rebounds |
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News |
April 4, 2000 Sylhet, Apr 3 (UNB) – Hit hard by drought-like situation in the last few years, the tea industry appears to rebound this year on the back of fair weather. For the first time in the history of the country’s tea industry, plucking of tealeaves began here well before the season and this has been possible due to adequate rain. Officials said some 168 mms of rain were recorded from January to March. “If the present trend of rainfall continues, the tea production this year will surpass the target,” said another official. Some 49 mms of rainfall were recorded in January while 32 mms recorded in three days in the first week of February and 87 mms in the first week of March. When November-February is considered as the lean period for tea production, its peak season starts in March and continues till October. In previous years, the officials said, adequate tealeaves could not be plucked during Aprils, but this year it began one month ahead of its due time because of sufficient rainfall. The rainfall has also helped save the plants from red-spider attack. According to experts, drought severely affects land’s humidity and plants’ water holding capacity, and helps develop cracks on lands hindering the growth of leaves. In 1999, 58 lakh nursery tea saplings, planted saplings on 465.90 hectares of land and matured plants on 691.40 hectares of land were damaged due to lack of moisture, bringing down the tea output. Some 4.30 crore kgs of tea were produced last year against the target of 5.50 crore kgs. To overcome the aridity problem, water had been sprayed on the tea gardens owned by foreign companies last year. But they could not continue it due to excessive dryness of soils. For the local tea garden owners, it’s too expensive to afford.
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