Climate Change Threatening Tea Sector Globally: ITA
It says the industry needs to adopt a multi-faceted approach to address the issue through sustainable farming practices.
Leading planters body Indian Tea Association said climate change is threatening the industry globally and it is resulting in lower yields and rise in production costs.
A spokesperson of ITA said climate change is also threatening the long-term viability of the tea industry and it is also causing increasing pest infestations, making pesticide residue management surfacing as a major challenge.
To mitigate this, the ITA said the industry needs to adopt a multi-faceted approach to address the climate change issue by way of sustainable farming practices and reduction in carbon footprint.
In this context, the association maintained the industry involving all the stakeholders to invest in research to come out with mitigating solutions.
There has also been a decline in rainfall and increase in temperature in the tea cultivating regions for the last several years, according to the ITA.
Future projections indicate a substantial reduction in suitability in tea cultivation in areas where the crop is grown.
The other major area where work needs to be done by the industry is optimisation in the use of chemical fertilisers and greater use of renewable energy.
In the latest data compiled by Tea Board, production in January 2023 in the country was 13.43 million kg as against 16.22 million kg in the same month of last calendar year.