Weather blues for Asom tea, production dips

Guwahati, July 20 (UNI) It's raining woes for the Asom tea industry. Tea production in the first phase in the state - which produces 60 per cent of he world tea - has dipped sharply due to an uneven rainfall and floods in parts of Asom valley.

The state's tea industry has posted 2,379 thousand kg of decline in tea production from January to May, 2007, as compared that in the corresponding period the previous year.

Uncongenial weather coupled with pest attack in some of the tea gardens in the valley has been another reason for low yield in the first phase.

The tea mosquito bug Helopeltis has been reported to have played havoc in some of the tea gardens in southern bank, whereas in the northern bank; it is Loopar - a caterpillar, which is said to have affected production in few of the tea gardens.

Though pest attack has been a reason for this year's production decline, tea industry primarily attributes it to an unfriendly weather.

''This decline in tea production has been after many years'', said a tea industry source.

He added that Helopeltis or loopar couldn't be the only reasons behind this decline in production. Uneven rains and floods are other factors that have affected tea production in the state, he said.

Though average rainfall in the state has been more or less the same as last year, uneven and excessive rainfall in some parts has affected the produce.

Whereas tea production in the northern bank, especially in Dhemaji and North Lakhimpur districts, has been affected by floods and excessive rainfall, in southern bank the low yield is due to an uneven rainfall and scorching heat.

Interestingly, while tea production in Asom valley (Brahmaputra Valley) has posted a decline, in Barak valley it has increased over last year.

In the month of May alone, tea production in the Valley declined by 1,063 thousand kg as compared to May 2006. Sources from Toklai Tea Research Centre, Jorhat, said that though Helopeltis affect tea gardens every year, the magnitude of damage depends on the pest control measures taken by the gardens. Those gardens, which showed laxity in taking pest control measures have been the worst sufferers.

Though the tea industry does not foresee any major impact of this decline, sources said that incase the shortage keeps on continuing due to poor production, the prices may go up eventually at the end of the year.

Sources from Guwahati Tea Auction Centre said the current price of tea is hovering around Rs 75 per kg, which is around Rs 5 more than the average price of previous year.

Tea industry is hopeful that production would go up by August end. ''We don't see any major impact of the decline in production in the first phase as we expect crop production to increase by August end, to be at least at par with that of last year'', sources said.

UNI