No rain over 2 months, climate change poses threat to tea farming in Kangra

Climate change in the form of dry weather, lesser rainfall and high temperatures has posed challenges to tea farming in Kangra district. According tea farmers of the region, over the past few years, tea farming in the Kangra valley has become unviable. The tea farmers are requesting the Himachal Government to allow them to grow alternative crops such as medical plants and fruits in tea gardens to maintain their viability.

KG Butial, a prominent tea farmer of Palampur, told The Tribune that there had been no rainfall in the region in October and November this year. "I have made arrangements to irrigate my tea garden by sourcing water from natural rivulets flowing through the region. However, even these rivulets have dried up now," he added.

Butail said that during the summer this year, the temperatures in the Palampur region had touched 40°C, scorching tea plantations in his garden. "Given the climate change, it seems that the Kangra region is now becoming unfit for tea farming. The irony is that the state government has barred the tea farmers of the Kangra valley from growing any other crop in their classified tea gardens. It is high time that the government allows the farmers of Kangra to grow alternative crops such as medicinal plants or fruits along with tea to maintain their sustainability. Otherwise, most tea farmers of the Kangra region may be forced to abandon their estates due to climate change," he added.

Guddu Pathania, manager of the Dharamsala tea estate, said, "Small tea farmers are the hardest hit by climate change. They are not in a position to arrange irrigation water for their small farms and the government does not allow them to do anything else on the land classified as tea gardens. Either the government should allow them to grow alternative crops in their orchards or tea gardens or it should compensate them for losses they are suffering due to climate change."

The tea farmers of Kangra say that tea was introduced in the Kangra valley when the weather conditions for the crop were ideal. "The Kangra valley used to be the second wettest area of the country after Cherrapunji in Meghalaya. The temperatures in the valley used to remain below 30°C even during the summer due to heavy rain and mist, which was ideal for tea plantations. However, due to climate change rain is becoming scarce in the valley and temperatures are soaring, making tea farming difficult," he adds.

According to experts, the production of Kangra tea that has a unique Geographical Indicator (GI) has fallen to just 8 lakh kilogram per annum against 17 lakh kilogram per annum production recorded in 1998. They say that the production in the Kangra valley is just 0.01 per cent of the total 90 million kilogram of tea production in the country. There is hardly any support from the government to the tea farmers of Kangra.