Increasing incidences of pest outbreaks, prolonged periods of drought, change in the pattern of rain distribution, and rising number of hailstorms are harbingers of climate change for the already struggling tea industry sector.
“Climate change will definitely have a great impact on tea ecosystems and affect photosynthesis and crop productivity. However, the effect will be different for each region,” says the paper Climate Change and its Impact on Tea Plantations by B. Radhakrishnan, director, Tea Research Foundation under the United Planters’ Association of South India.
Nilgiri plantation
The paper said that analysis of data on the impact of weather change on the Nilgiri tea plantations showed no change in the quantum of rain received.
However, its distribution pattern had changed. The change in pattern was “drastic,” the paper said.
The increase in temperature over the plantation area had risen 0.5 Celsius; the number of dry days had shown an increase and frost and hailstorm damage to standing crop was seen in more places, the paper said.
Both protracted dry periods and untimely rain hit crop productivity. Untimely rain hindered sunlight, resulting in increase in incidence of diseases such as blister blight and grey blight. Untimely rain also intensified attacks by red spider mite and tea mosquito, which favoured wet conditions.
The paper pointed out that rising level of atmospheric carbon dioxide and increasing temperature were the two most visible and “incontrovertible manifestations of climate change.” Measures to mitigate climate change impact include better planting materials, improvement in organic matter, soil and water conservation measures and establishment of vegetative barriers.
“Conservation of biodiversity, especially in terms of crop plants and shade trees is a must,” the paper recommended as it called for “a drastic change in shade policy in tea” in which both temporary and permanent shade trees are “inevitable” at recommended spacing.
