OpinionWriting in Prothom Alo, Professor Moinul Islam says the tea association reckons only 50 to 52 percent of the land in Sylhet's 168 tea gardens can grow tea, and that solar panels on the rest could add about 10,000 MW.
EnvironmentProtected hills and tea-garden hillocks in Madhabpur and Chunarughat collapse into silted streams with each flash flood; residents want the streams dredged and trees planted, and the district administration is studying technical fixes.
OrganicSolidaridad says 50 to 60 Indian tea gardens, 10 in the south, have joined, and that cotton farmers in Maharashtra under the scheme saw yields rise 10-20%.
Sirajnagar Tea Estate in Moulvibazar put Tk 12 lakh into the orchard in 2024; Thai Red, Jumbo Red and White Pink varieties fruit 25-26 days after flowering, no pesticide is used, and tea workers earn extra wages and take fruit home free, say manager Shamim Islam and upazila agriculture officer Md Ja
Sirajnagar tea garden in Moulvibazar started a Tk 12 lakh trial in 2024; the Thai Red, Jumbo Red and White Pink varieties fruited in the second year, are grown without chemical pesticides, and the estate now plans to export.
Residents say several hundred trees were cut on the hills of Sabajpur tea garden over two months and hauled out by elephant; the estate could show no approval from the Tea Board or the forest department, and 130 stumps were counted.
The government has set up a 12-member monitoring and advisory committee for the tea industry and asked it to advise on a revolving fund for the sector at 6% interest.
EnvironmentOn 28 July 2026 two large pythons were rescued from the Jagchhara and Phulbari tea gardens in Moulvibazar. Jagonews24 reported one at about 16 feet and the other at 17 feet; both were handed to the forest department.
CropsOn 9 July 2026 the Bangladesh Wildlife Service Foundation rescued an unharmed python about 10 feet long and weighing around 14 kg from the Bhurbhuria tea garden in Sreemangal, Moulvibazar.
In Ramadan the pace slows at Sylhet's Malinichhara tea garden, where Muslim workers and staff find time for prayers and iftar with family or at the mosque.
Snakebite patients in Moulvibazar lack enough antivenom, and even where it is stocked, a shortage of doctors often prevents its use.
Tighter monitoring by the district administration and tea board has improved Panchagarh's tea quality, lifting green leaf prices from Tk 12 to Tk 32-35 a kg.
A tea worker in Sreemangal who also sells jhalmuri has spent 28 years planting trees wherever he finds empty ground.
