Tea production rates drop in Assam and West Bengal after heavy rainfall
India Today
Heavy rainfall and the subsequent floods in Assam and West Bengal have affected tea production in the region.
The tea industry in Assam and West Bengal, which contributes almost 81 per cent of the country’s total tea production, has been battered by the fury of nature. The unprecedented rainfall and subsequent floods have severely affected the tea sector of the region.
Assam witnessed a 27 per cent drop in tea production in June as compared to last year’s production rates. Out of the 27, an 11 per cent drop was recorded in the Brahmaputra valley and 16 per cent in the Barak valley.
“All the clones of our crops here are neither drought resistant nor flood resistant, so the tea gardens in the region had to bear the brunt of the floods,” Dipanjal Deka, secretary of the Assam branch of the Tea Association of India told India Today.
“These losses are just the initial records. We will be able to assess the actual damage after 15 to 20 days once the exact damage to the crops is figured out,” Deka added.
On the other hand, the Dooars-Terai tea gardens in neighbouring West Bengal faced a 40 per cent drop in tea production in June, out of which 21 per cent was recorded in Dooars and 19 per cent in the Terai region of Jalpaiguri division.
The drop in production could be attributed to the drop in the average maximum temperature by 1.5 degrees celsius, resulting in lower average sunshine hours. The dip in the temperature widened the diurnal temperature variations in the month of June this year.
Moreover, there has been a 15 per cent drop in the prices of CTC tea in May.
