Worry for Tea

Guwahati, July 2: A tea bug, Helopeltis, which is suspected to have migrated from the Dooars and Nagrakata regions of West Bengal, is causing havoc in the tea gardens of Upper Assam, with the industry staring at not less than 20 per cent loss in produce this season.

“I have never seen such devastation in my 10-year career in tea,” said a manager of a Jorhat-based garden, adding that the curse had turned into an epidemic.

A senior scientist at Tocklai Experimental Station in Jorhat said the bug migrated from the West Bengal gardens in the late nineties but because of congenial weather conditions, it multiplied several folds this season, proving fatal for the tea crop.

High temperature and heavy rainfall are ideal conditions for the bug to multiply.

The Helopeltis attack on the tea crop in the Upper Assam gardens, the hub of the tea industry in the state, has come at a time when the industry is targeting a record production of 500 million tonnes this year.

The bug, aka tea mosquito, sucks out the juice from the tea plants leaving their leaves almost useless.

B. Borthakur of Tocklai said it was not only the Helopeltis but also the bacterial black spot, a disease of the tea plant, which has become a cause of concern. “Both Helopeltis and the bacterial black spot cause similar damage to the plant and the two-pronged attack has compounded the problem.”

The bug made its debut in the Upper Assam gardens in 1996-97. The former chairman of the Assam Tea Planters’ Association, Prabhat Bezbaruah, said the first attack took place in September 1997 at Cinnamara tea estate in Jorhat district.

“Since then, the bug spread to other gardens in Upper Assam. Today, it has become one of the biggest threats to the gardens,” he said.

There were reports of the bug attack from Cachar gardens once several years ago, Borthakur recalled. “The bug has also become resistant to some of the chemicals over the years,” the scientist said.

Tocklai, he said, has initiated several measures in recent times under the integrated pest management programme to control the pest. “The gardens which have been following Tocklai guidelines to control the pest are likely to suffer less.”