The move by the government to increase tea production as well as improve the conditions of the tea gardens is quite timely and, thus, most welcome. Tea industry, apparently a trouble-free production sector, is reportedly showing signs that warrant urgent and steadfast actions to sustain its very existence in the not-too-remote future. One of the curious features about the industry is that it has not significantly developed over the long period of time since the initial hard work done by the British planters in pre-partition India.
This is not to say that this promising sector has so long been left to its own fate. Some extension activities have taken place, newer technologies have also been introduced to some tea estates. But absence of required investment, lack of gas and shortage of power are considered to be largely responsible for the deterioration of the industry. The industry is feared to be worst hit in its exporting activities. Observers are of the view that the country's tea export may face severe setback after three years if necessary steps are not immediately taken to raise production. Beside exports, the country's tea production is also not able to keep pace with growing domestic demands. Although production has increased over the years, it has not been able to keep up with such demands. This is starkly reflected in the fact that Bangladesh imported 7.70 million kgs of tea in 2016, as against 4.13 million kgs in 2011. The country exported 10.56 million kgs in 2007, but exports sharply dropped by 0.47 million kgs in 2016.
The country has presently a total of about 116,000 hectares (ha) of land under tea cultivation, of which more than 16 per cent of the lands has reportedly become old and uneconomic. In anticipation of the bad time ahead, tea planters have been looking up to the government for immediately initiating a crash programme under which khas lands in the tea belts of greater Sylhet and Chittagong will be allocated for tea cultivation as well as soft loans provided to garden owners. Otherwise, the scenario, as they fear, may turn from bad to worse in the near future. The signs are already ominous. The age-old industry with its vast potential must not be allowed to suffer economic reversal.
So far as the recent move to rejuvenate the tea sector is concerned, indications are that it is an effort focused mostly on the small and new tea gardens. Three projects are currently under execution involving extension services for small-holding tea cultivation in northern parts of the country and the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Industry insiders are of the view that while there is the need for such extension works in these newly set up tea zones to make them viable, there remains a lot to be done in the traditional tea belt under greater Sylhet district. Technology is still lagging behind in most of these tea estates, and coupled with the dearth of required gas and power, things are not at all in a good shape. The government needs to go for a comprehensive programme for facilitating the old as well the new gardens on the basis of need assessment. Finance is also a critical area not to be overlooked.