The Nilgiris: Welcome showers in the Nilgiris have gladdened not just the hearts of locals but tea growers as well, with tea plants sprouting shoots after just a few showers.
The Nilgiris: Welcome showers in the Nilgiris have gladdened not just the hearts of locals but tea growers as well, with tea plants sprouting shoots after just a few showers. Tea growers anticipate a better yield only if there is sufficient rainfall, this summer.
Even though the tea industry is currently vulnerable and facing an economic crisis, the growers continue to trade at the current market prices. This year alone, as compared to the past 10 years, several thousand acres of tea plantations have been affected by frost. Vegetable growers in the hills too have experienced losses. As a result, tea production at cooperative and private factories have recorded the lowest ever.
Most privately-owned tea factories have shut down temporarily, or produce tea once a week because of the dwindling supply of leaves from growers in the district. As for the cooperative factories, manufacturing has reduced to once every four days because of the inability to meet the cost of daily purchases.
For the past two months, people dependent for work on the tea industry have had to move in search of other means of livelihood including construction work. The impact of frost in the district has begun to decrease from the beginning of this month, with a couple of showers that Coonoor, Kundha and surrounding areas experienced. The tea growers predict that more showers would provide moisture for the plants and a possible increase in the yield.
Though the tea gardens do not require continuous rain, the growers anticipate the moisture from regular rainfall, along with sunshine to gradually increase the growth of tea leaves. This augurs well for better tea yield in the coming months.