Excess rain, rough weather hamper tea production

The weather behaviour has hit the country's tea production hard this year in Sylhet region.
Sources concerned said tea production was nearly 30 per cent behind its target until last week compared to the corresponding period of the last year. The sector fetched only five million kilograms of tea so far this season whereas the production figure was 7.35 million kilograms till April 30 last year, they informed.
When contacted, General Manager of Khadim Tea Company in Sylhet Numan Haider Chowdhury said, "We are experiencing excessive rainfall this year. Besides, the temperature has been fluctuating - thereby causing harm to the sensitive crop which needs balanced rainfall and temperature all along."
There has been higher degree of rains for weeks whereas there was no rain at the beginning of this year, Mr. Chowdhury informed, adding that hailstorms also hit the production this season.
Talking to this correspondent, General Manager of the Bangladesh Tea Board's tea estate management cell Mohammad Shahjahan Akand said almost 95 per cent of the tea gardens have to wait for rainfall since they lack artificial irrigation facility.
"But when the rainfall becomes excessive, it causes harm to the tea plants in general," he noted. According to Mr. Shahjahan, the tea gardens in almost all seven valleys suffered at the beginning of the season due to a drought-like situation and now they are suffering from excessive rainfall.
Tea plants in most of the gardens are now getting stunted due to soil saturation with rains, he observed. The tea gardens, he said, can't use fertiliser due to rains.
In addition, there has been low temperature coupled with insufficient sunlight, he added.
The tea region experienced 550 mm rain till Saturday whereas it was 330 mm during the corresponding period of last year, the official informed. Besides, the sunlight remains insufficient with almost cloudy weather.
Tea production may be affected further this time if the weather behaviour continues this way, he apprehended.
Of the country's 165 tea gardens in total, 135 are in greater Sylhet region, one in Brahmanbaria, 22 in Chittagong region and seven are in Panchagarh.
Besides, about 200 small tea gardens, each of which covers one to five hectares area were established in Panchagarh, Bandarban and Thakurgaon districts in the recent years.
Out of 120,000 hectares of land covered by the tea gardens, about 54,000 hectares are being used for tea farming.
The country produced its highest ever 85 million kilograms of tea last year.
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