Tea output to exceed target

The production increased by over 10 percent till June and by now it would be over 12 per cent, tea officials said. If the trend continues just weeks more, gross production would stand at 58 million kilograms, the highest in recent years. The target was 56 million kilograms. Last year, 52.79 million kilograms were produced against the target of 56 million kilograms.

Director of Bangladesh Tea Research Institute (BTRI) AFM Badrul Alam told The Daily Star yesterday that, the main tea producing region experienced over 1950 mm rainfall from January to August this year against 2400 mm during the corresponding period last year. Though the current year's rainfall was lesser, the distribution was good, which is very important for growth of tea plants. Though the region experienced a higher amount of rainfall last year, budding of tea leaves was stalled during the important period due to uneven distribution of rain and inadequate sunshine. So production fell in all the 160 tea gardens spread over six tea producing valleys. The Balisera and Monu-Doloi valley in Moulvibazar district, the highest tea-producing valley, suffered much that year. Though the situation in the Lashkarpur and Juri valley was a little better, but it did not contribute much to cover the overall shortfall.

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The production was about 3.2 million kilograms less than the target.

Tea researchers said the 'second flash period' from May to August is very important for tea industry. Uneven rainfall is "intolerable" for tea production. In May last year, there was 620 MM rainfall, a record in 20 years. Besides, heavy shower in most days during the 'second flash period' washed away fertiliser from tea gardens.

The scene was totally different this year. The rainfall is lesser but the weather is average.

Tea is an important cash crop of Bangladesh. Roughly two thirds of this is consumed at home. The country earns around Tk 1500 million by exporting the rst. Tea sector contributes 0.81 per cent of the GDP and about 0.15 million people are employed in this industry, which is about 3.3 percent of the total industrial employment.