The tea industry in the Nilgiris has been the worst-hit by water crisis. Tamil Nadu produces 65% of tea in South India. According to Ullas Menon, secretary-general, UPASI, the production has fallen in the last two years. “In 2016, Production dropped by 40 per cent due to monsoon failure and water crisis. The larger tea estates somehow manage to get water. It is the small estates that are struggling.”
More than 65,000 hectares in the district is under tea cultivation in the Nilgiris. This includes both government-owned and private tea estates. Around 7,000 hectares fall under UPASI.
K.G. Udaya Bhanu, Assistant Director (AS), UPASI Tea Research Foundation, said: “The tea industry does not require huge rainfall. It needs water distributed equally. The quantity does not matter. It is the distribution pattern that matters. The problem is it rains in one particular zone and the other areas don’t get the same amount of rainfall,” he added. UPASI is experimenting with different planting methods in times of water shortage.
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A tea planter at Bandishola said: “In the last ten years, many small growers gave up their land to real estate. What can they do with the tea bushes when they cannot water and maintain it?” he asked. Women make up 80% of the employees in tea estates. “Women who come to pluck leaves need drinking water. Due to water crisis, women don’t turn up for work on time and that becomes a challenge for the managers,” said the manager of a tea estate near Sim’s Park.