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Tea leaves worth billions of Tk are being wasted every day
in the ongoing labor movement demanding wage hike. Now is the perfect time to
pick tea leaves. But due to not picking the leaves for a long time, the buds of
the tea plant are getting damaged. By now the buds are 18-20 inches long, which
should be cut. Those concerned said that if this situation continues, the quality
of tea in the garden will deteriorate. Gardens will be destroyed. It is feared
that the target of 100 million kg tea production will not be achieved this
year.
A scientific officer of BTRI, on condition of anonymity,
said, Generally, the plant should be picked within 8-10 days of budding.
Otherwise, the buds are destroyed naturally. Tea is a sensitive agricultural
product. Just as a balanced climate is necessary for its production, timely
plucking of tea leaves is also very important. This time the country's tea
industry has fallen into various crises. As a result, concerned people
including tea garden owners are worried.
Due to severe floods this year, later load-shedding caused
severe crisis in tea production in the country. However, since last month, the
weather has been favorable, so there was hope for tea production to reach the
target. The situation has become critical due to continuous strike by the
workers. Last year, 96.5 million kg of tea was produced in the country. It is
doubtful whether 50 million kg of tea has been produced so far.
Noman Haider Chowdhury, chairman of North Sylhet Valley of Bangladesh Tea Association, said about the situation of 22 gardens in North Sylhet Valley, tea buds are getting destroyed. Due to the strike, the daily loss is Tk 8 crore. In these few days, there has been a loss of at least Tk 8 thousand crore in the tea industry of the country. Due to the ongoing crisis, the tea industry of the country may suffer severe losses in this year's full season, said Noman Haider Chaudhuri, saying that it does not seem that the production target will be achieved this time.
Due to the strike for 11 consecutive days, 21 gardens of
Chittagong have grown like weeds without plucking their leaves. The leaves of
the tea plant have become big and hard. The root bud has matured. According to
the garden authorities, about 4 lakh kg of green tea leaves were not collected
daily in 21 gardens. As a result, this leaf is destroyed in the plant itself.
According to the relevant sources, 4 kg and 500 grams of green tea leaves make
one kg of maid tea. As a result, 90 thousand kg of maid tea is made from 4 lakh
kg of green tea leaves. According to the auction market price, the price of one
kg of tea is Tk 220. As a result, 19 crores and 8 lakhs of Tk are lost daily in
21 gardens of Chittagong. Around 228 crore 96 lakhs worth of tea was wasted
during the strike.
GM Kazi Irfan Ullah of Fatikchari's Neptune Tea Garden said
that this year there was a super bumper production of tea in Chittagong. But
because of the strike it was all over. The gardens were irreparably damaged. He
said, the leaves of the plant have grown a lot. It can no longer be picked up
by hand. Besides, these leaves will not make good tea. In order to produce
quality tea, we have to wait for the top leaves of the plant to be pruned. When
the new buds come, they will be the raw material for making tea. But if you
wait until then, the season will be over. So this year there was a big loss in
the tea industry.
Ramgarh Tea Garden’s Senior Manager Md. Zainal Abedin said, "The biggest loss we have had is that we have been delayed from our entire plucking round." A large amount of leaves were lost on the plants. Harmful insects have also invaded the garden due to lack of maintenance.
Jahangir Alam, the former chairman of the Chittagong region
of the Bangladeshi Tea Association, said that in the history of Bangladesh,
there is no precedent for such a long strike in the entire country. He said,
the tea season is calculated from April to December. Among them, August,
September and October are three months of full season. There will be no tea
season to make up for the August loss. Niranjan Nath Montu, Chittagong Valley
President of Chittagong Tea Workers' Union, said that there has been no labor
strike in the history of Bangladesh. He admitted that the tea industry would
suffer a huge loss.
Due to non-collection of tea leaves in the last 11 days,
around 8 crore worth of raw tea leaves were wasted in 5 tea gardens of Surma,
Teliapara, Jagdishpur, Nowapara and Baikunthpur in Madhavpur of Habiganj.
|Source: Online/SZK
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