Insufficient rain in Dooars has affected tea plantation as 50 per cent production has been hampered in 2014.
Dooars are the floodplains and foothills of the eastern Himalayas in West Bengal and Northeast India. The Western Dooars is known as the Bengal Dooars, while the Eastern Dooars is called the Assam Dooars. The region politically constitutes the plains of Darjeeling District, Jalpaiguri District and the upper region of Cooch Behar District in West Bengal. The districts of Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Goalpara and Bongaigaon in the state of Assam also come under its purview. Dooars simply means Terai, a word used in Nepal and northern India and form the only nitrate rich soil in India.
Tea Market
At the auction market, offerings are quite low and have led to rise in prices of CTC, orthodox and dust variety of tea. "Production is low and the industry is incurring huge losses as the heat is burning the tea gardens," exclaims Aayush Bansal, Director of Aryan Tea Plantation (P) Ltd in Jalpaiguri.
A dry weather has affected the production of new season teas. As told to media by Secretary of Calcutta Tea Traders Association (CTTA), J Kayanasundaram, prices of CTC teas took a leap by 15 per cent and rose to Rs. 161 per kg from Rs. 139 per kg in the corresponding period of 2013. The other two varieties have also appreciated by 35 per cent from last year.
Rain in Dooars
In the month of April, the area received 192 mm of rain in 2012 and 114.2 mm in 2013. This year, rain has been deficit and Dooars has received very scanty rain this month. The month of February and March just had 38.5 mm and 22.9 mm of rain, respectively.
Skymet Meteorology Division in India has mentioned in its previous article that Northeast India is a weather sensitive pocket and is specially known for deluge on account of incessant rains. However, this feature seems has been eluding in the recent past. The region has been observing drought like conditions, both in pre-monsoon and Southwest monsoon season, albeit with few exceptions. (click here to read more).
With the mighty Brahmaputra River winding its majestic course through the land of the one-horned Rhino, Assam and the sub-Himalayan West Bengal are two of the most important tea growing regions of the country. The total area under tea production in Assam is 312,210 hectares. The rich, full-bodied and bright tea grown here is simply called Assam Tea.
The post winter rain over Assam has been highly deficit. Lakhimpur received only 29 mm of rain in March against the normal count of 85 mm. Even more harrowing is the amount received this month so far, which is 27 mm against the normal average of 207 mm. Similarly, Dibrugarh received only 24 mm of rain in April till date, against normal average of 230 mm of rain.
Moreover, record breaking high temperatures and the prolonged dry spell is casting shadow over the performance of monsoon in the Northeastern states. Skymet Meteorology Division in India had also an article `Northeast India Boils` (click here to read more) highlighting oppressive heat over these parts.
picture courtesy- Assam Science
