Tea production likely to hit target this year

A favourable weather and rainfall in the last few weeks made them hopeful.

Though the tea industry suffered a little odd situation due to unfavourable weather two months ago, the situation is better following the recent rains, they said.

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An average rainfall during September-October is very good for the highly sensitive crop, Secretary of Bangladesh Tea Board told the Daily Star when contacted over phone in Chittagong.

“Tea production is good this year. The demand for our tea is also very good in the Chittagong auction. It would be hard to face the market in coming weeks due to increased foreign demand”.

He said the production target may be attained this year.

Shahiduzzaman, Director of Bangladesh Tea Research Institute (BTRI) in Srimongol, said, “Though the situation was a little different months ago, now we are hopeful of nearing this year's target”.

AKM Doulatul Islam, Manager of Malnichhera Tea Estate, an established and reputed garden in Sylhet, also expressed an optimistic view.

“Weather behaved well in recent weeks compared to previous months. The pest attack is also lesser. Now, the tea industry people are more confident about a good end”, he said.

“Till September-end tea production was 5 per cent ahead of target”, he added.

On the other hand, foreign buyers like Pakistan are also active in Chittagong auction market, he said.

Last year, the production was 54.5 million kilograms against a target of 57 million kgs, he added.

The target could not be achieved last year due to excessive rain in the middle of the year and a drought like situation during November-December. The crop depends on nature's behaviour, he said.

There are other reasons behind failure in achieving the target last year, industry officials said.

These include mismanagement, corruption and poor labour management in many tea estates.

Moreover, productivity in most of the gardens could not be raised in the last few years. Besides, sick gardens also stand on the way of success in sector.

Though several programmes were taken to bring a 'big change' in the condition of those sick gardens during last decades, things did not move in the right direction due to age old problems including lack of government initiatives, they said.

Tea production was much better in 2003 (58.3 million kgs) compared to last year because of average rainfall in main tea-producing regions, the officials said.

Last year (2004), the country exported 13 million kilograms of tea while 42 million kilograms were consumed in the internal market, they said. Bangladesh earns foreign exchange to the tune of around Tk 1500 million annually by exporting tea.

Tea is the largest agro-based industry in the country. There are 156 tea estates employing about 0.15 million people, which is about 3.3 per cent of the country's industrial employment. Tea sector contributes 0.81 per cent of the GDP.