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Belated rain gives hope for tea in Sylhet region

Iqbal Siddiquee, Sylhet
The much awaited rainfall during the last one week brings hope of saving the tea gardens in greater Sylhet region from production setback that was feared due to the drought-like situation prevailing for the previous couple of weeks.
However, the situation remains far from being optimal.
"The plants started dying up as there had been no rain and we could not arrange irrigation from the natural streams that had dried up too. This year 271 mm rain has been recorded so far whereas it was 396 mm the same period last year," said Humayun Kabir, manager of Hobibnagar Tea Estate in Jaintapur in Sylhet.
Although the situation sees some improvement now, it may take weeks to get the benefits, he added.
The recent rain is likely to help prevent the loss caused by lack of rain early summer, said Numan Haider Chowdhury, general manager of Khadim Tea Company in Sylhet.
"Nearly 95 per cent gardens lack artificial irrigation facilities. As it is a hilly area, it is difficult to get water even from deep tube wells. The natural streams, main sources of irrigation in
tea garden areas, are yet to have water," said Mohammad Shahjahan, general manager of Tea Estate Management Cell of Bangladesh Tea Board.
So far the gardens in Mou 1 vibazar experienced 254 mm rain on average against last year's 288 mm rain the same time, he said.
Meanwhile, there are reports of red spider attack in some areas.
"The tea gardens require increasing the tea plantation area by 2.5 per cent every year as older plantations lose much of their production capacity. But, adverse weather situations like drought disturbs the pro-
cess," he added.
Of the 163 tea gardens in the country, 145 are in greater Sylhet region, 17 in Chittagong region and one in Brahmanbaria district.
Besides, around 200 small tea gardens, each covering one to five hectares of land, have been raised in Panchagarh, Bandarban and Thakurgaon districts during the recent years.
Of the 1.2 lakh hectares of land belonging to the tea gardens in the country, around 54,000 hectares is being used for tea farming.
The country produces over 60 million kg of tea every year.