India is the largest country that is known for producing and consuming the tea. North Eastern India produces the majority of the tea. Assam and West Bengal are two major North Eastern states of India where the production of tea is observed to be comparatively high than the Southern part of India. India being one of the leading tea exporters, tea farming and its production plays a vital role in the country’s economy.
In the past few years, severe climatic changes are observed across the India. This has thrown a major impact on the entire farming sector where climate plays a prime role. Climate can’t be changed by humans overnight but there are certain measures that can be taken to avoid drought and other situations.
The 22nd session of the Intergovernmental Group on tea was held at Naivasha, Kenya from 25th-27th May. They have released a report of the Working Group on Tea on Climate Change. This 22nd session was attended by more than 20 tea producer & consuming countries. Shri Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Chairman, Tea Board of India leaded the Indian delegation that included major stakeholders of the Indian tea industry.
This report states that as per advanced modeling studies conducted by using general circulation models at TRA Tocklai, the tea planting regions in Kenya, Sri Lanka and NE India are comparatively vulnerable to climate change. They have raised their concerns on the measure which are to be adapted and implemented to overcome the situation. All these results of the modeling studies should be translated by clustering gardens and small holders in a region. Not only that, proper adaptation measures should be adopted by all the stakeholders together in the region.
The report released is authored by Dr RM Bhagat of India, Dr M A Wijeratne of Sri Lanka, Dr John Bore of Kenya and Dr Wenyan Han from China. It provides a roadmap for adaptation measures which are to be implemented in the tea industry of these countries.
Below are the measures listed in the report that is to be adapted by the tea producers:
1 Development for drought
2 Water conversation measures
3 Water logging tolerance
4 Seed based high yielding quality cultivation
5 Improve soil properties
6 Integrated nutrient management (fertilizers)
7 Adequate shade and shelter belts in the tea garden
8 Create humid conditions in the tea planting area to prevent drying
These measures are all advised after analyzing the climatic conditions and other aspects related to tea planting and mainly for the North East India.
Verdict: India being the second larger producer of the tea has more to work on these measures so as to avoid unmanageable damage of crop and decline in production of the same. If these measures are adopted during tea planting, then there are comparatively less changes of manage. Production shall not get affected and will remain in the manageable situation.
Author: Mrs. Viveka Verma Nagar