Weather worries: How climate is driving down tea production, increasing hardships for plantation workers

Lulu Orang, a 38-year-old casual tea garden worker from the Dibrugarh district in Upper Assam, fainted twice this year in the heat wave while plucking leaves in the tea garden. Being a casual worker she doesn’t have much choice. Lulu doesn’t get privileges enjoyed by the permanent workers, and so she got back to work immediately once she recovered.

While the hardships are not new, they are rising. The piping hot tea of Assam is cooling down reportedly due to the rising global temperatures. In 2024, authorities say the production of tea in the Northeastern state has fallen by over 100 million kilograms. This has put at risk lakhs of people whose livelihood depends on tea production in Assam and distribution across the globe.

Erratic weather conditions are driving down production, fueling tea prices and making the lives of plantation workers miserable. And so Lulu is not alone.

Systemic apathy

“This year the weather was unbearable and many of us had to be given medical care. However, I had to return to work as soon as I recovered as we struggle every day for our survival,” said Orang, who works as a casual labourer for the Hingrijan tea garden.

Climate change and its gradual impacts over the years are emerging as a major threat to the over 150-year-old tea industry in Assam, which also ensures livelihood to several lakh people of a community, loosely called the Tea Tribe community, associated with the industry since over a century.

The tea plantation workers earn a daily wage of only Rs 250 per day, and get access to ration and health care, however, casual workers like Lulu Orang are denied the same.

Though the permanent plantation workers get employment for the whole year, the casual workers get work only for 6-7 months a year. Their accommodation and family ration is also not taken care of.

At the Hingrijan tea garden, in September over 25 people had suffered from heat wave and had to be sent for medical help.

“The garden authorities keep telling us that they want more work from us, but how can we work under such conditions. We don’t get wages on time nor do we get the facilities which we are entitled to on time, and still the garden authorities expect us to work like this under so much heat,” said Pinki Tanti, a member of the committee of tea garden workers of the Hingrijan tea garden.

Tea workers’ union leaders described it as a serious issue and said there has been many such instances of tea garden workers fainting due to the heat-wave across Assam.

“This year we have seen multiple cases of plantation workers fainting in the unbearable heat and some also had to be taken for medical support. This can’t go on forever,” said Keot.

“We have discussed at a meeting of our union some of the solutions to this issue, which we will present to the tea garden managements soon, and these suggestions includes flexible work timings, changes in the timing of the work shift, better drinking water facilities for the workers,” added Keot.

The crisis, however, is not limited to workers’ health alone. The climate crisis is impacting the lives of the tea workers is several ways.

“As many of the gardens are running into losses they prefer casual labourers over permanent ones. While the permanent ones get important facilities like health care support in all government hospitals, ration for the whole family and quarters, the casual ones have to live in rented houses and they get ration for only themselves and not the entire family. Also, they are entitled to free health care only in the tea garden where they are working, and unfortunately all tea gardens don’t have good health care facilities,” added Keot.

Pinki Tanti echoed Keot’s views and said that since the garden authorities don’t pay wages on time. Even the ration is not distributed on time and so most workers are always in debt.

The Assam government meanwhile has started to lease out loss-making tea gardens owned by the state owned PSU, Assam Tea Corporation, and has leased out three of its 15 tea gardens. It plans to lease out more.

As per a recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report tabled in September this year on Implementation of Schemes for Welfare of Tea Tribes in Assam, “in terms of healthcare, not all tea estates had garden hospitals, and the ones that did, suffer from lack of infrastructure and manpower. In the education sector, inadequate infrastructure, shortage of teachers, and absence of free uniforms for children in Tea Garden Managed (TGM) schools were major issues, leading to a decreasing trend in student enrolment. Housing facilities for tea workers were inadequate, with poorly maintained houses, lack of proper drinking water, sanitation, and basic amenities in labour houses/lines. The availability and management of crèches, canteens, and recreational facilities in tea estates were also lacking.”

“Overall, the implementation of labour laws and worker welfare provisions in tea estates showed several shortcomings and areas of concern,” the CAG report mentioned.

Climate change impact

As per tea scientists in Assam, there has been a gradual increase in the temperature and decrease in the rainfall over the years, and apart from impacting the health of the tea garden workers, the famed Assam tea is also being impacted in terms of both production and quality of the tea.

With a drop in tea production this year, the industry has seen a rise in price realisation of around 13%. Experts say this price rise is not commensurate with the loss of production. Industry insiders say the crop that has already been lost is primarily of the first and second flush. It constitutes the best quality teas.

The Tocklai Tea Research Institute has done an analysis of the past hundred years rainfall and temperature data, and have arrived at the conclusion that the average minimum temperature has increased by about 1.3 degrees Celsius and also that the rainfall is decreasing.

Speaking to the Federal, Kamruza Zaman Ahmed, a scientist from the Tocklai Tea Research Institute, explained that the impact of climate change on the tea industry is manifold, and not just limited to overall tea production.

“Apart from impacts on the overall tea production, there has also been an increase in pest and insect attacks on tea plantation due to the impacts of climate change, and that is another very serious issue,” said Ahmed.

Ahmed explained that the climatic conditions in Assam makes it’s an ideal location for tea plantations, but now the adverse impacts of climate change has started to cause problem in cultural practices of tea plantation such as planting, young tea management, fertilizer application, pest management, and weed management.

Ahmed added that the ideal temperature for tea growth is 20°-30°C and temperatures above 35°C and below 10°C are harmful for the bush. The weather now is erratic on both sides of the spectrum. Sometimes the temperature shoots up and at times it plummets below the ideal range which is affecting bush growth.

Ahmed added that practicing adaptation measure in tea cultivation is the only option to combat the ill effect of climate change which is plaguing the Assam Tea industry.

Ahmed also added that the Tocklai Tea Research Institute is studying adaptation measures, and research is being done to study the effect of climate change scenarios on performance of 28 cultivars in order to screen the cultivars as an adaptive measure during replantation and new plantation programmes.

“Tea cultivars being of different genotypes, may respond differently to changing climate parameters,” Ahmed added.

Tea garden employees echoed these observations and said that apart from the decline in production, the tea gardens are also suffering loses as a result of dead and damaged tea plants.

“This has become something very frequent now, and there has been a major surge in damage of tea plants and it is due to climatic conditions,” said Partha Das, a manager who is associated presently with the Bokolia Tea Garden in upper Assam.

On being asked about the losses due to climate change, Das elaborated that the current year has been among the worst and the decline has been about 40% compared to the previous year.

“This year we have been hit very badly, but this has become something very frequent over the years now,” said Das.

Impact on Assam tea production

The Assam Tea is described as a rich, full bodied, deep-amber liquor with a brisk, strong and malty taste. The distinctive second flush orthodox Assam tea is valued for its rich taste, bright liquor and is considered one of the choicest drinks in the world.

As per records of the Assam Branch of the Indian Tea Association (ABITA), Assam has an area of about 312,210 hectares of land under tea plantation and on an average annually produces about 507 million kg of tea.

According to officials of the Tea Research Association, the tea industry has been hit badly in 2024 due to the adverse climatic conditions, and also said that the second flush of Assam Tea, which is the best quality Assam tea and is produced between mid-May to end June, has been hit badly.

“The second flush gives nearly 40% of the revenue to a tea garden,” said Joydeep Phukan, secretary and principal officer of Tea Research Association.

As per Tea Board data, the total tea production across the country from January to July has decreased by over 13% compared to the same period last year, bringing total output to 552.83 million kilograms.

As per the Tea Board data, tea production in Assam from January to August 2024 was 31.85 million Kgs, which is 7.9% lower compared to the same period in the year 2023.

According to North Eastern Tea Association adviser Bidyananda Barkakoty, for September 2024, the tea production of Assam is estimated to be 5% to 10% less than September 2023.

Barkakoty said that the impact of climate change on tea production has been tremendous, and this year one of the major impact, apart from the high temperature, has been less humidity.

“Apart from the high temperature, the other factors which impacted the tea production severely this time were, less humidity, plant diseases and pest attacks,” said Barkakoty.

Barkakoty also highlighted some of the measures the gardens must take now to mitigate impacts of climate change, and said all tea gardens whether small, medium or large must take these measures.

“Shady trees within gardens is very important and it must be seen that proper numbers of shady trees are planted. Apart from that all gardens must have rainwater harvesting, irrigation measure,” he said.

Barkakoty also added that there is also an urgent need to focus on climate resilient varieties of tea plants.