Tea cultivation in Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts has grown recently, boosting hopes that production will now meet the growing demand for the brew.
Kaniz Fatema, daughter-in-law of the late president Dr Iajuddin Ahmed, was the first to start tea cultivation in Thakurgaon district in 2007. Thakurgaon’s tryst with the brew began on 25 acres of land on the banks of River Nagor at Nitoldoba village in Baliadangi upazila.
Later, Fatema sold the tea garden to Greenfield Tea Estate Company, which expanded cultivation to 45 acres of land. At the same time, marginal farmers at Nitoldoba also started growing tea leaves in small scale on 40 acres of land. After this, Dabirul Islam, member of parliament (MP), started two tea gardens named as Ronbag Tea Estate Ltd. The gardens are located 15 km away from the Baliadangi upazila headquarters at Ronbag village in Paria area and Panchurhat village in Lahiri area on the banks of River Nagor.
While visiting the gardens at Ronbag village recently, this correspondent met Dabirul and was informed that the MP had set up the two gardens at Ronbag (270 bighas of land) and Panchurhat (450 bighas of land) two years ago.
Within a year, Dabirul sold tea leaves worth Tk 4 lakh to Karatoa Tea Factory in Panchagarh district at the rate of Tk 20 to Tk 30 per kg. He hoped that this year the sales from his two gardens would touch the Tk 20 lakh mark.
The MP said that growers incur losses if tea leaves are sold at Tk 20 per kg. But if it could be sold at Tk 30 or above, growers could earn some profit. He Also said the government should give loans at very low interest rates and extend other facilities to boost tea production in the area.
Recollecting his days as a member of a parliamentary standing committee, Dabirul said he had proposed to start tea cultivation in the northern parts of Bangladesh. Based on his proposal, the Tea Board had sent an expert team to Thakurgaon, Panchagarh and other frontier districts in 1999 to assess the possibility for tea cultivation there.
The expert team had examined the soil, climate, temperature, rainfall and other factors in the area.
The team reported to the Tea Board that the border belts of Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Dinajpur, Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat districts were suitable for tea cultivation because the soil was loamy and rain water easily drained out.
The report further said that tea could be cultivated in border belts of the whole of Panchagarh district, while it could be done so on 25,000 acres of land in Thakurgaon district. Based on the report, Kazi and Kazi Tea Estate Co, Tetulia Tea Co and some other tea planters started cultivation in 2000. Lalmonirhat district too started tea cultivation during that time.
In Thakurgaon district, tea cultivation started in 2007.
Besides the big tea gardens, marginal farmers of Panchagarh and Thakurgaon districts also joined in the action but on a small scale. In Panchagarh district, many small farmers started cultivating tea a few years ago.
In Thakurgaon district, 33 small marginal farmers of Nitoldoba village started tea cultivation on 40 acres of land. One of the growers, Niren Chandra, said he previously had cultivated different crops, but could not earn much profit. Now, he has started tea cultivation and hopes to expand it in future.
In the tea gardens of Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts, the garden owners employ both male and female labourers, whose daily wages range from Tk. 170 to Tk. 200.
In Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts, there is enough scope of expanding tea cultivation in small scale as well as in large scale. If tea production increases, it could be exported after meeting the local demand.