Problem & Prospect of Tea Industry in Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh Tea Industry established at 1840 when a pioneer tea garden was established on the slopes of the hills in Chittagong where the Chittagong Club now stands. First commercial tea garden was established in 1857 at Mulnichera in Sylhet. During the India-Pakistan partition in 1947, Bangladesh (the then East Pakistan) owned 103 tea estates, covering 26,734 hectares of tea plantation with annual production of 18.36 M.Kg. with a yield of about 639 Kg. per ha. Home consumption was around 13.64 M. Kg. upto 1955.After that home consumption went up rapidly and Government imposed 3% mandatory extension of tea area per year in 1961. Ten years later by 1970, tea area was extended to 42,658 hectares and production was increased to 31.38 M.Kg. During liberation war in 1971, our tea industry suffered colossal damages which resulted in poor management, high vacancies, insufficient inputs, dilapidated factory machinery, inadequate maintenance etc. leading to lower yield and poor quality of tea. Besides that, world tea production has been showing an annual increment of 3% while in Bangladesh the production has increased by 1.84 % and contributes 1.37 in export in the word tea trade and earns near about 1775 million Taka (Taka 69 = USD 1.00) every year. The study aims to pasteurize the scenario of Bangladesh tea in the context of different situation whether they face any problem which we assume or find out the best probable way to lessening the problem.