All 168 tea gardens start tea plucking as season begins

The tea gardens in the country have already started the season's tea leaf plucking from the second and third weeks of March, industry sources informed.

The Bangladesh Tea Board set the year's tea production target at 103million (10.30 crore) kilograms.

All the 168 tea gardens in greater Sylhet have already started tea leaf plucking, sources said, adding if the weather condition remains good, the target could be achieved although the beginning was not good this time.

The last year was also not a positive one for the sector. Normally tea gardens start tea plucking in second week of March every year, but late rains often causes delay.

Most of the tea gardens suffered loss amid a low price at the tea auction market last year while the production target was also not achieved.

The auction went down even below Tk200 per kg while the production cost was much over that. A number of gardens are still facing hard time and even closure while some others are already irregular in paying staff salaries, wages and other expenditures.

Managements of a number of gardens are in huge trouble over the unstable situation.

If immediate steps for comparatively better price and increased production are not taken, it would be hard to save the industry as a whole, said a number of gardeners, adding smuggling of substandard tea from India is another threat now. However the rains at the beginning of March hinted a good start of the season for a few gardens, since it is considered as welcome rain for the industry always.

However, many gardens suffered losses due to the drought like situation that time.

Senior tea planter and consultant of a tea garden in Moulvibazar Md Shahjahan, also a former general manager of Bangladesh Tea Board, said that with the little rains at the beginning of March, the budding of plants was there. The gardens would now be greens although many gardens got it late. This is why the overall situation is yet a challenging one.

Tea workers at gardens started leaf plucking through offering 'Bonpuja'. The country's oldest commercial tea garden Malnichhera Tea Garden in Sylhet started leaf plucking formally on 22 March.

Tea officials said uniform rains and sunshine are required for the sensitive crop. Balanced weather is also important, said Humayun Kabir, manager of Habibnagar tea garden in Sylhet.

Contacted, the president of Bangladesh Tea Association's North Sylhet valley chapter, Noman Haider Chowdhury, told this correspondent, "We had a bad year last year."

Director of Bangladesh Tea Board Ismail Hossain said the 168 tea gardens produced 93 million kg tea, 10 per cent behind the target in 2024. The current year's target was set at 103 million kg, he added.

However it would be hard to survive if the market situation did not improve. The tea auction was far behind last year, said a number of tea garden managers.

An official at the National Tea Company said concerted efforts of the labourers, officials, owners, management as well as the government should come up with assistance for recouping the losses and for ensuring profit. Whole industry suffered largely last year while the 22 gardens of NTC suffered two to three months of strike and movement. The company's loss could not be recovered for various reasons.

Manager of Malnichhera Tea Garden in Sylhet Azam Ali said, "We are still facing challenges. We have started tea leaves plucking amid hopes to recover last year's bad time."

"The new year should have a better tea auction. We had inclement weather as well as low prices amid labour strike and other obstacle last year."

forsylhet@gmail.com