Rains come as boon for tea gardens
The rainfall and low temperature in the last few days came as a boon for the tea gardens in Sylhet Division as the favourable weather condition may help the country pull off a record production.
Favourable weather and timely rain would help the gardens get a good yield this year, said Md Zahirul Islam, general manager of M Rahman Tea Company in Srimangal.
“We are hopeful that we will see a much better yield this year than that of last year as the weather in fact has been very good since the beginning of this year’s tea season.”
If the favourable weather persists, the country might witness another bumper crop, he said.
Some 27.60 millimetres of rainfall were recorded on Thursday and Friday, said Md Zahidul Islam Masum, observer of the Srimangal Meteorological Centre.
There are 166 tea gardens registered with Bangladesh Tea Board. Of them, 91 are in Moulvibazar, 25 in Habiganj, and 19 in Sylhet.
Nearly 95 percent gardens lack artificial irrigation facilities. As it is a hilly area, it is difficult to pump water from deep tube wells.
The natural streams, the main source of water for tea garden, are yet to have water, said Shahjahan Akondo, a tea leaf researcher and former general manager of New Samanbagh Tea Estate in Barlekha upazila in Moulvibazar.
He said there are reports of red spider attack in some areas. But rain keeps spiders at bay. “This is giving us hope.”
Golam Shibli, chairman of Sylhet branch of Finlay Tea, said there is a demand for 85-90 million kilogrammes of tea in Bangladesh this year.
“We are very hopeful that we will be able to meet the demand.”
Dhona Bauri, president of the Bangladesh Tea Workers Union for Monu-Dhalai valley unit, said plucking of tea leaves more than doubled this season due to the timely rain.
Tea output in Bangladesh stood at 8.21 crore kg last year, a two-year high, according to Mohammad Ali, director of the Bangladesh Tea Board.
The yield was 7.89 crore kg in 2017 and 8.50 crore kg in 2016.
Comments