Silchar, May 4: The weather is wreaking havoc this year on the 104-estate strong Barak Valley tea industry, with a dry spell battering the first flush in the three early months, and now, storms flattening crops.
Tea industry sources today said the valley’s total production in the first four months this year was just 2.16 million kg, against 6.49 million kg in the corresponding period last year — a 66.7 per cent fall.
The tea crops took the first beating when the year began with a hot dry spell. Cachar planters said in the beginning of the year, drought battered the CTC tea first flush, which usually fetches better prices.
Then came the storms. Powerful gales accompanied by hail swept across the three valley districts on Thursday and Friday night and took a heavy toll on the crops and property in many tea estates.
The Surma Valley branch of the Indian Tea Association (ITA) had pegged the estimated loss at Rs 6 crore.
According to ITA branch secretary Sumanto Guha Thakurtha, the Silcoorie tea estate, 12km south of this town, bore the brunt of the storms, sustaining losses amounting to nearly Rs 1 crore. The 400-hectare garden, owned by the Calcutta-based North Western Tea Company Limited, produces around 6 lakh kg of CTC tea a year.
Other affected gardens include Jelalpore and Kalline, both B.K. Birla plantations, Degubbar, Chandipur, Labac, Rosekandi and Binnakandi.
The storms also wreaked havoc in Cachar’s Sonai block and Lakhipur subdivision, flattening around 500 huts, damaging power lines and injuring around 10 people. Dargakona hills in Cachar, 24km south of here, which houses the Assam Central University, along with Uddarbond and Dholai blocks of the district, also sustained heavy property damage.