Tea output set to beat last year\'s record

Iqbal Siddiquee and Ziaur Rahman | Published: August 05, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

SYLHET, Aug 4: Tea gardeners in the country's north-eastern region look to beat last year's record of production this year pinning their hopes on favourable weather conditions, officials and industry sources said.
In view of adequate rainfall and favourable weather in the region gardeners say both quantity and quality of tea will improve. There has been no major pest attack this year.
Tea is considered a very sensitive crop, which needs uniform rainfall and sunshine, especially during the period from March to October, the officials concerned said.
"The weather condition till now is quite favourable with necessary rains and sunshine there for an encouraging yield," said Humayun Kabir, Manager of Khan Tea Garden of M Ahmed Tea & Lands Company in Sylhet.
Officials at the tea estate management cell of Bangladesh Tea Board also echoed them by saying that the weather has been very good this year since the very beginning of the season in March. Besides, pest attack is also negligible.
"The distribution of rainfall has been well enough with favourable temperature and sunshine, two very important factors for this sensitive crop," said Humayun Kabir. Â
According to official sources, the country's tea production stood at 25.38 million kilograms (kgs) until June 30 this year against 16.22 million kgs during the same period last year.
"If the weather continues like this until the end of the season, this year's total production may surpass last year's yield," said the senior official.
Last year the country produced the highest ever 67.32 million kgs of tea, an important cash crop of the country.
Tea is one of the largest agro-based industries. There are about 165 tea estates in the country. Although about two-thirds of the country's production were consumed domestically earlier, the consumption has increased and pushed exports down.
Even during the period between 1985 and 1990, Bangladesh used to export up to 90 per cent of its total tea and the importers included Pakistan, Afghanistan, former USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Sudan, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
But domestic tea consumption has increased much over the last few years. The country now exports only three to five million kgs. Resultantly, most of the previous importing countries lost interest in Bangladeshi tea. Exports are now confined to Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
According to Bangladesh Tea Board, the country's total tea production reached 47.67 million kgs in 2000. Of it, about 38.79 million kgs or 81 per cent were consumed domestically. The remaining tea worth about Tk 1.205 billion was exported.
By this time the local consumption has increased substantially. Despite being a tea exporting country, Bangladesh has to import the commodity since 2010 to meet its local demand. In 2014, the country produced about 63.88 million kgs of tea against the consumption of 67.17 million kgs. The gap was fulfilled by imports. In 2014, the country exported about 2.65 million kgs worth about Tk 181.72 million. The country imported 14.3 million kgs in the fiscal year 2013-14 to meet the local demand.
Industry sources attributed this to low yield, lack of development initiatives and replacement of century-old saplings.
Some gardens, however, in Moulvibazar and Sylhet region saw remarkable improvement in quality and acreage in recent times because of their adherence to pragmatic initiatives, according to the industry insiders.
Taking into consideration the current rate of domestic consumption, industry sources said the country would need to import around 20 million kgs each year to meet the local demand within few years. Bangladesh is also lagging behind major tea producing and exporting countries like Sri Lanka, India, China and Kenya as far as the acreage is concerned.
Local tea gardens on an average produce 1200 to 1250 kgs per hectare with some producing maximum 2500 kgs and a few selective ones 3000 kgs and more. In sharp contrast to it, the hectare-wise production ranges from 3000 to 3500 kgs or more in Sri Lanka, India and Kenya.
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