Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: The local businesses of Assam and the North Bengal region, majorly small planters and enterprises associated with the tea industry are seeking the government’s support on account of lower rainfall and a shrinking water table impacting the tea production.
According to tea planters, the production is already 15 per cent behind the average and is expected to reach 30 per cent, said the ANI report.
Satish Mitruka, a planter from Siliguri, told ANI, “The industry is experiencing a drought-like condition. The plantations are not getting natural showers for long, with the deficiency helping pests to damage the crops. The water level of the rivers has gone down. As a result, the industry is again unable to use the artificial irrigation system everywhere. In this situation, the government’s financial support can only save the industry.”
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Sandip Ghosh, a tea garden manager near Siliguri said, “Tea is a seasonal crop, heavily reliant on good rains. But this year, lack of rainfall has severely hit the tea industry which is facing a drought-like situation. As a result, our garden is 15 per cent behind from last year and it cannot be made up. We received at least 15mm of rainfall last year, and it is just 6.3mm in our garden this year.”
Tea plantation requires on average 150-200 cm of annual rainfall. According to Indian Meteorological Department, Assam has received 38 per cent less rainfall while West Bengal received seven per cent lower rainfall, for the period between March 1 and May 31, this year.
The lack of rainfall has made the plantations vulnerable to various pest attacks and there are growing infestations from pests such as Loopers, Helopelltis, and Red Spider Caterpillars, said planters.
According to the Tea Board, more than 1.6 lakh growers were associated with the tea industry in Assam and West Bengal.
Notably, the tea harvesting season begins after the offset of winters in March and lasts till November in the region of Assam and North Bengal. The region produces 81 per cent of the total tea production of the country. According to the Tea Board of India records, Assam produced 696.67 million kg of tea, while West Bengal produced 421 million kg out of the total 1373 million kg production in India in the financial year 2022-23.
India is the second largest producer of tea in the world, only after China. India exported tea worth 817.54 million dollars in FY23 according to the Niryat portal under the Ministry of Commerce.