Indian tea industry keen to embrace Israeli expertise

KOLKATA: To fight the persistent rainfall scarcity, the Indian tea industry is gearing up to embrace comprehensive water management with the help of Israeli expertise.

"Crop shortfall due to rainfall scarcity has become a major issue confronting the tea industry now," Indian Tea Association (ITA) Secretary-General of M Dasgupta told PTI.

In such a scenario, irrigation was becoming an important factor for which an Israeli firm had been asked to make a presentation before the industry captains, he said.

The Israeli firm, Netafim, had shown interest and would be making a presentation soon on comprehensive water management ranging from micro-drip irrigation to rain water harvesting, the ITA official said.

The tea gardens had been witnessing no rainfall during the period October to March.

This, he said, was causing stress in the existing bushes and also giving a slow start to new season owing lack of moisture.

Dasgupta said that the replantation exercise which almost all the tea gardens were carrying out has come under threat.

To start with, the association has picked ten gardens located in North Bengal, Cachar and Brahmaputra Valley for a comprehensive water management programme on trial basis to be funded by Solidaridad, an NGO.

Depending upon the results, the programme would extended to other gardens as well.

He said that the industry would then approach the Tea Board for funding as the 12th plan had approved schemes for water management.

Till mid-March 2015, production of tea in Assam Valley, Cachar, Dooars and Terai was already down by 5.85 million kilos over the same period last year.