The ‘double trouble’ of COVID-19 infection among plantation workers and drought-like conditions has made tea estates in Assam suffer an estimated crop loss of 60 million kilograms. Spells of pre-monsoon showers have made planters heave a sigh of relief but the “damage has already been done”, the North Eastern Tea Association (NETA) and Bharatiya Cha Parishad (BCP) said following a survey across plantations. This is the second successive year of massive crop loss. The hasty COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 saw most of Assam’s 803 major estates and more than 1.70 lakh small tea gardens losing 78 million kg of tea leaves, Tea Board of India’s data showed. Tea estates have largely been exempted from severe restrictions this time, but a few estates have been hamstrung by more than 500 employees out of action due to COVID-19 infection. ‘An unusual year’ “This has been an unusual year so far for the Assam tea industry in terms of productivity. A study was carried out to assess the crop loss due to the impact of the prolonged drought-like situation, also taking into account the rainfall received in the last few days,” NETA adviser Bidyananda Barkakoty said.

BCP chairman Nalin Khemani said the very low crop till May and its likely impact on the crop for June had led to a huge revenue deficit for the State’s tea industry.

“Extreme weather fluctuations, both in terms of temperature and rainfall, have impacted the growth of tea leaves severely. Temperature drop from 34 to 19 degrees centigrade coupled with hardly any sunshine for the last one week, preceded by temperatures above 34 degree centigrade is playing havoc with the crop,” BCP adviser Mrigendra Jalan said. NETA chairman Sunil Jallan said the tea-growing areas in the State did not face such a prolonged dry spell in the last 30 years.

Apart from the crop loss due to rainfall deficit, the drought-like condition at the very beginning of the tea season delayed the application of fertilisers by around two months. This will add to the loss of crop during the ensuing peak harvesting months, planters said.

Crop deficit “As per our study, the crop deficit from January to May this year will be about 60 million kg compared with the same period in 2019. We have not compared crop figures with 2020 because last year the crop deficit from January to May was 78 million kg due to COVID-19 lockdown,” Mr. Barkakoty said. In percentage terms, the crop deficit from January to May this year would be about 40% compared to the same period in 2019, he added.

The average rainfall deficit from January-April this was about 45% compared to the same period in 2020 in the main tea-growing districts from Golaghat to Tinsukia in eastern Assam. The rainfall over the past few days had been highly localised, the quantum of precipitation differing within a few kilometres, planters said.

Source - https://www.thehindu.com