Guwahati, May 6: The Tea Association of India (TAI) estimated that 50 percent of crops were damaged due to pre-monsoon heavy showers coupled with repeated hailstorm in the tea plantation in Assam’s Barak Valley region.
The pre-monsoon followed by hailstorm have also extensively damaged the other crops of the state. But has mostly affected the tea industry.
“Thousands of hectares of tea plantations have been damaged. The hailstorm caused leaf laceration and leaf fall. Shade trees were uprooted, electric lines and poles were damaged, and the roofs of dwelling houses, factories and store buildings had been blown away,” said Sorodindu Bhattacharjee, secretary of the Barak Valley chapter of TAI.
The badly damaged gardens in Hailakandi included Aenakhal, Roopacherra, Manipur, Koya, South Cachar Tea Estate, Burni Braes, and Kanchanpore. In Cachar district, gardens like Irongmara, Borojalenga, West Jalingha, Kailashpur, and Dearbond were also badly damaged.
Bhattacharjee said due to the erratic power supply in the last month the estate management was compelled to depend on power generation, causing an abnormal increase in the cost of production.
The tea industry has been largely affected due to climate change and the quality of tea leaves has been low due to constant change in weather patterns.
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