Staff Reporter
Guwahati: Assam is celebrating two hundred years of Assam Tea but recent statistics revealed that production declined in the last two months of the calendar year 2023, as compared to the last two months of the preceding year.
At the start of the last tea season, there was speculation that the output of Assam tea was likely to fall due to the impact of climate change.
The decline in tea production was revealed in an estimated production report by the Tea Board of India. According to the report, tea production in the months of November and December 2023 was 83.5 million kg. However, the production in the corresponding months in 2022 was 87.58 million kg. The difference works out to 4.3 million kg.
The report further stated that the production of Assam Tea in the month of December 2023 was 20.23 million kg, while it was 20.54 million kg in December 2022. Similarly, tea production in the month of November 2023 was 63.27 million kg, as compared to 67.04 million kg in November 2022.
The report said that production by big growers in December 2023 was higher than that of small growers. Big growers produced 10.48 million kg, while small growers produced 9.75 million kg of Assam tea.
In November 2023, the share of tea production by big growers eclipsed that by small growers. Big tea growers or tea estates contributed 30.36 million kg to the overall production of tea, while small growers produced 29.91 million kg.
With the tea-producing season drawing to a close, the pruning of tea bushes is going on. With the advent of the rainy season, new leaves will begin to sprout, and the plucking of tea leaves will start thereafter, starting in the month of April.
The total production of Assam Tea in this financial year (2023-24) will become evident around the end of April or May.
In the last financial year of 2022-23, Assam produced 698.38 million kg of tea. Of this, a quantity of 363.66 million kg was produced by big growers, and the remaining 334.72 million kg was produced by small growers.
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