January 8th 2011
Climate Change Weakening Indian Tea Crop
Tea growers in India’s northeastern region are reporting consistently weaker tea… and pointing the finger at climate change.
Nobody likes weak tea — least of all the farmers who account for a third of the world’s global tea production.
And this particular region, Assam state, produces nearly 55 percent of the nation’s total tea crop.
Farmers are dealing with a dual-problem: shortfall in production — a drop in production of nearly 30,000 tons of tea — and a lesser-quality crop.
Rising temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns are likely the culprit in changes in plantation yield, directly effecting the flavor of a notoriously strong, hearty, black tea, often marketed as a “breakfast tea,” that come from this region of India.
“We are indeed concerned,” Rajib Barooah, a tea planter in Jorhat — Assam’s main tea growing district — told the Associated Press.
“Assam tea’s strong flavor is its hallmark.”
Tea growers are worried not only for the future profits, but of a decline in consumer demand. Assam tea is covete
Tags: Climate Change, Tea
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