Bangladesh Tea Board chairman Major General Mesbah Uddin Ahmed says officials of the Bangladesh Tea Research Institute (BTRI) have been told to cut pesticide use quickly to protect the character and quality of Bangladeshi tea even as output rises. He spoke on Sunday afternoon, 11 October, at a training and tea-tasting session on quality tea production at the board's regional office in Panchagarh.
Tea production is up 17 percent on last year nationally and 40 percent in the north, the chairman said. Bangladesh produced 18 million kg of tea in 1947 and 28 million kg in 1970; Panchagarh alone now produces about 25 million kg a year.
Excessive pesticide on tea leaves damages quality and character, he said, and the workshop was held to keep growth going while improving the quality of the region's tea.
On the long-running fertiliser shortage faced by plains tea growers, he said steps have been taken and allocations completed, and growers should receive the fertiliser soon. A proposal to amend the tea law has been sent to the relevant office, and he hopes it will be approved soon.
Sixty plains growers and factory owners attended the workshop, after which expert tea tasters tested tea from 30 processing factories. Board member Mohammad Moazzem Hossain, project development unit director Dr A K M Rafiqul Haque and director Ismail Hossain were present.
Photo: Nisad.nhn / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Agricare24
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