Tea production in Bangladesh

Last updated

Tea garden in Sreemangal Sreemangal tea garden 2017-08-20.jpg
Tea garden in Sreemangal

Bangladesh is an important tea-producing country. It is the 12th [1] largest tea producer in the world. Its tea industry dates back to British rule, when the East India Company initiated the tea trade in the hills of the Sylhet region. [2] In addition to that, tea cultivation was introduced to Greater Chittagong in 1840. [3] Today, the country has 166 commercial tea estates, including many of the world's largest working plantations. [4] [5] The industry accounts for 3% of global tea production, and employs more than 4 million people. [6]

Contents

The tea is grown in the northern and eastern districts, the highlands, temperate climate, humidity and heavy rainfall within these districts provide a favourable ground for the production of high quality tea. [6]

History

Sylhet is the birthplace of the Bangladesh tea industry. Zia Museum 001.JPG
Sylhet is the birthplace of the Bangladesh tea industry.

Historically, Bengal was the terminus of the Tea Horse Road connecting the subcontinent with China's early tea-growing regions in Yunnan. Atisa is regarded as one of the earliest Bengali drinkers of tea. [7]

Black tea cultivation was introduced in Bengal and Assam during the British Empire, particularly in Assam's Sylhet district. [8] In 1834, Robert Bruce discovered tea plants in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills and other hilly areas in the northeast. This led to the Assam Tea Company being established in 1839 and many businessmen were actively involved with this company such as Haji Mohammed Hashim, Dwarkanath Tagore and Mutty Lall Seal. The company was associated with Calcutta's Bengal Tea Association. European traders established the first subcontinental tea gardens in the port city of Chittagong in 1840, when plantations were set up beside the Chittagong Club using Chinese tea plants from the Calcutta Botanical Garden. [7] The first home-grown tea was made and tasted near the Karnaphuli River in Chittagong in 1843. [7] Commercial cultivation of tea began in the Mulnicherra Estate in Sylhet in 1857.[ citation needed ] The Surma River Valley in the Sylhet region emerged as the centre of tea cultivation in Eastern Bengal. Plantations also flourished in Lower Tippera (modern Comilla) and Panchagarh which is in North Bengal. Panchagarh is the only third tea zone in Bangladesh and the most demanded teas are cultivated here.

Tea was a major export of British Bengal. The Assam Bengal Railway served as a lifeline for the industry, transporting tea from growers in the Surma and Brahmaputra Valleys to exporters in the Port of Chittagong. [9] [10]

Syed Abdul Majid was a very notable pioneer in the native tea industry. MajidSyedAbdul.jpg
Syed Abdul Majid was a very notable pioneer in the native tea industry.

In the early twentieth century, many local entrepreneurs also started founding their own companies such as Syed Abdul Majid, Nawab Ali Amjad Khan, Muhammad Bakht Majumdar, Ghulam Rabbani, Syed Ali Akbar Khandakar, Abdur Rasheed Choudhury and Karim Bakhsh.

The Chittagong Tea Auction was established in 1949 by British and Australian traders. British companies such as James Finlay and Duncan Brothers once dominated the industry. [2] The Ispahani family also became a highly prominent player in the industry. [11]

Industry

A tea garden in Sylhet district Tea Garden in Malini chora Sylhet Bangladesh (3).JPG
A tea garden in Sylhet district

Tea is the second largest export oriented cash crop of Bangladesh, following jute. The industry accounts for 1% of national GDP. [12] Tea-producing districts include Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Sylhet, Chittagong, Panchagarh, Brahmanbaria, Rangamati, Naogaon. [13]

Once a major world exporter, Bangladesh is now a net importer of tea. [14] The rise of the Bangladeshi middle class has increasingly driven the industry to focus on a lucrative domestic market. The sector is today dominated by Bangladeshi conglomerates, including M. M. Ispahani Limited, Halda Valley, Kazi & Kazi, the Transcom Group, James Finlay Bangladesh, the Orion Group, the Abul Khair Group, the Meghna Group of Industries and Duncan Brothers Bangladesh Limited.

In 2012, Bangladesh recorded its highest production of tea, at 63.85 million kilograms. [15] The country has over 56,846 hectares of land under tea cultivation, up from 28,734 hectares in 1947. [4] The government has begun to promote small-scale tea growers, particularly in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

The price of Bangladesh tea is determined at the public auction in Chittagong. In March 2015, the international price of Bangladesh tea was US$2.40. [16]

Currently, the Moulvibazar District has the most tea plantations in the whole of the country.

Labor

More than 300,000 plantation workers are employed in Bangladeshi tea gardens. 75% of workers are women. [5] Many are descendants of tribal labourers brought from central India by the British. [17] They are among the lowest paid in the country with a daily wage of 120 taka (about $1.25). [18] [19] [20] [21] On the first half of August 2022, the tea workers started a nationwide movement demanding an increase in daily wages from 120 taka to 300 taka. [22] [18] [23] Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ended the protest on 27th August by directing the tea estate owners to raise the daily wage of tea workers to 170 taka. [24] [25] The labor ministry issued a gazette notification on August 12, 2023, setting the minimum wages for the labors to be 168 BDT, 169 BDT, and 170 BDT for the category C, B, and A tea gardens respectively with an annual raise of 5%. [26] [27] [28]

Government bodies

A tea garden surrounded by mountains at Sripur in Sylhet Tea garden surrounded by mountains, Sylhet.jpg
A tea garden surrounded by mountains at Sripur in Sylhet

The Bangladesh Tea Board and the Bangladesh Tea Research Institute support the production, certification and exportation of the tea trade in the country. [29] The Bangladesh Tea Research Institute began the improvement of tea quality in 1957, selecting bushes with the best yield and quality to introduce germplasm as a system of improvement. [30]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of Bangladesh</span>

The economy of Bangladesh is a major developing market economy. As the second-largest economy in South Asia, Bangladesh's economy is the 35th largest in the world in nominal terms, and 25th largest by purchasing power parity. Bangladesh is seen by various financial institutions as one of the Next Eleven. It has been transitioning from being a frontier market into an emerging market. Bangladesh is a member of the South Asian Free Trade Area and the World Trade Organization. In fiscal year 2021–2022, Bangladesh registered a GDP growth rate of 7.2% after the global pandemic. Bangladesh is one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chittagong</span> Second-largest city in Bangladesh

Chittagong, officially Chattogram, is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. It is the administrative seat of an eponymous division and district. The city is located on the banks of the Karnaphuli River between the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the Bay of Bengal. The Greater Chittagong Area had a population of more than 5.2 million in 2022. In 2020, the city area had a population of more than 3.9 million. The city is home to many large local businesses and plays an important role in the Bangladeshi economy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylhet Division</span> Division of Bangladesh

Sylhet Division is the northeastern division of Bangladesh. It is bordered by the Indian states of Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura to the north, east and south respectively, and by the Bangladeshi divisions of Chittagong to the southwest and Dhaka and Mymensingh to the west. Prior to the Partition in 1947, it included Karimganj subdivision. However, Karimganj was inexplicably severed from Sylhet by the Radcliffe Boundary Commission. According to Niharranjan Ray, it was partly due to a plea from a delegation led by Abdul Matlib Mazumdar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylhet</span> Metropolis in Sylhet Division, Bangladesh

Sylhet is a metropolitan city located in the northeastern region of Bangladesh. It is the administrative center of Sylhet Division. It is situated on the banks of the Surma River. The city has a population of approximately 700,000 people, making it the fifth-largest city in Bangladesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panchagarh District</span> District of Bangladesh in Rangpur Division

Panchagarh is a district of the Rangpur division in Northern Bangladesh. Panchagarh is the northernmost district of Bangladesh. It lies between 26º00' and 26º38' north latitudes and between 88º19' and 88º49' east longitudes. It was established as a district on 1 February 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonali Bank</span> State-owned Bangladeshi commercial banking institution

Sonali Bank PLC is the principal state-owned leading public commercial bank in Bangladesh. It is the largest bank in the country. Ziaul Hasan Siddiqui is the chairman of the Bank. Niranjan Chandra Debnath and Sanchia Binte Ali are the deputy managing directors of the bank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangladesh Post Office</span>

The Bangladesh Post Office also known by trade name Bangla Post is a government-operated agency responsible for providing postal services in Bangladesh. It is a subsidiary of the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology. This ministry is concerned with the policymaking for its two attached departments. The Director General of Bangladesh Post Office is Md Harunur Rashid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agriculture in Bangladesh</span> Economic sector in Bangladesh

Agriculture is the largest employment sector in Bangladesh, making up 14.2 percent of Bangladesh's GDP in 2017 and employing about 42.7 percent of the workforce. The performance of this sector has an overwhelming impact on major macroeconomic objectives like employment generation, poverty alleviation, human resources development, food security, and other economic and social forces. A plurality of Bangladeshis earn their living from agriculture. Due to a number of factors, Bangladesh's labour-intensive agriculture has achieved steady increases in food grain production despite the often unfavorable weather conditions. These include better flood control and irrigation, a generally more efficient use of fertilisers, as well as the establishment of better distribution and rural credit networks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tourism in Bangladesh</span> Overview of tourism in Bangladesh

Tourism in Bangladesh includes tourism to World Heritage Sites, historical monuments, resorts, beaches, picnic spots, forests, tribal people, and wildlife of various species. Activities for tourists include angling, water skiing, river cruising, hiking, rowing, yachting, and sea bathing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Bank Limited</span> Bank in Bangladesh

The National Bank Limited is a private limited bank in Bangladesh. Md Mehmood Husain is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank.

The Habib Group is a prominent Bangladeshi industrial conglomerate. Founded in Chittagong in 1947, it employs over 20,000 people and has various interests in textiles, aviation, cement, steel, real estate, insurance and banking. It is the parent company of Regent Airways, a Bangladeshi private airline, and Regent Power Limited, a power generating company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Padma Bridge</span> Longest bridge in Bangladesh

The Padma Multipurpose Bridge, commonly known as the Padma Bridge, is a two-level road-rail bridge across the Padma River, the main distributary of the Ganges in Bangladesh. It connects Louhajang Upazila of Munshiganj and Zazira Upazila of Shariatpur and a small part of Shibchar Upazila of Madaripur, linking the less developed southwest of the country to the northern and eastern regions. The bridge was inaugurated in the morning of 25 June 2022 by the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The Akhaura–Laksam–Chittagong line is a railway line connecting Akhaura and Chittagong, via Laksam in Bangladesh. There are branch lines from Laksam to Chandpur and Noakhali. This line is under the jurisdiction of Bangladesh Railway.

The Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills Ltd., commonly known as BSRM, is a Bangladeshi steel manufacturing company based in Chittagong. It is the largest construction steel manufacturer company in Bangladesh.

JF (Bangladesh) Limited, previously known as James Finlay Bangladesh, is a prominent shipping and logistics business in Bangladesh. It is a successor firm of James Finlay Limited, a leading Scottish trading company in the British Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of Sylhet Division</span>

The economy of Sylhet is the 5th largest in the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. It has a gross state product of $16 billion in nominal terms, and $40 billion in terms of purchasing power parity, making it the third largest behind Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi. Since the formation of Bangladesh, Sylhet has been regarded as the spiritual and cultural center of the country, and often termed as the agricultural capital of Bangladesh. Due to vast natural resources and emerging metropolitan, Sylhet is a major economic hub of the country alongside Dhaka and Chittagong. In recent years, Sylhet is experiencing major infrastructural developments, and projected to be the forefront of Bangladesh's economic growth. Sylhet is known for its tea plantations. About 80% of the country's agar processing factories are located in Barlekha Upazila.

Sadharan Bima Corporation is the one and only state-owned non-life insurer and reinsurer in Bangladesh under the Ministry of Finance, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. Both Sadharan Bima Corporation, the non-life insurer, and Jiban Bima Corporation, the life insurer, were created under the Insurance Corporation Act of 1973 of Bangladesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mutual Trust Bank Limited</span> Commercial bank in Bangladesh

Mutual Trust Bank PLC is a private commercial bank headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Md Abdul Malek, chairman of Sheltech Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, is the chairman of Mutual Trust Bank PLC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Standard Bank Limited</span>

Standard Bank Limited is a private commercial bank in Bangladesh. founder by Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed chairman of the bank and Kamal Mostafa Chowdhury is the founder vice-chairman and director of the bank. It stands among the least proficient banks in its performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dooars-Terai tea gardens</span> Tea gardens in West Bengal, India

Dooars-Terai tea gardens refers to the tea gardens in the Dooars and Terai regions in the Jalpaiguri Division of West Bengal, India

References

  1. ↑ Chen, Alice (17 September 2020). "The World's Top Tea-Producing Countries". World Atlas. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Tea Industry". Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  3. ↑ চা শিল্পের ইতিহাস. teaboard.gov.bd (in Bengali). Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  4. 1 2 Dr. Kazi Muzafar Ahammed. "Investment for Sustainable Development of Bangladesh Tea Industry – An Empirical Study" (PDF). Bangladesh Economic Association. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Tea Gardens in Bangladesh". bangladesh.com. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  6. 1 2 Mansur, Muhammed Alee (September 2006). "Bangladeshi Tea in the International Market" - Problems and Prospects (MBA). Southern University. Retrieved 24 March 2015– via Scribd.
  7. 1 2 3 "Saving the Slips Between Cup and Lips". Firstnewsmagazine.com. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  8. ↑ Colleen Taylor Sen (2004). Food Culture in India. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 26. ISBN   978-0-313-32487-1.
  9. ↑ Ishrat Alam; Syed Ejaz Hussain (2011). The Varied Facets of History: Essays in Honour of Aniruddha Ray. Primus Books. p. 273. ISBN   978-93-80607-16-0.
  10. ↑ Alan Warren (1 December 2011). Burma 1942: The Road from Rangoon to Mandalay. A&C Black. p. 235. ISBN   978-1-4411-0673-5.
  11. ↑ "Ispahani Family". Banglapedia .
  12. ↑ "Tea @ Global Trade Concern – Bangladesh". Tea.globaltradeconcern.com. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "Bangladesh Tea Board". Teaboard.gov.bd. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  14. ↑ "Growth of imports shake tea gardens of northern Bangladesh". The Daily Star. 5 December 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  15. ↑ "Bangladesh records highest tea production in 2012". The Daily Star. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  16. ↑ "Bangladesh tea prices edge up on strong demand". Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  17. ↑ "As tea estates expand in Bangladesh, tribes fear for their future". Union of Catholic Asian News. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  18. 1 2 "Why are Bangladesh tea garden workers protesting?". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  19. ↑ "Shocked by tea workers' wages? Everyone else is not doing any better". The Business Standard. Dhaka. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  20. ↑ "Not a humane life: Tea workers want end to oppression, reject Tk20 wage hike". The Business Standard. Dhaka. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  21. ↑ "150,000 Bangladeshi tea workers strike against dollar-a-day wages". The Economic Times. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  22. ↑ Gain, Philip (14 August 2022). "Why are the tea workers on strike?". The Daily Star. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  23. ↑ "Union leaders meet defiance as tea workers to continue protests until demand met". The Business Standard. 23 August 2022. Archived from the original on 3 May 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  24. ↑ "Tea workers' wages: PM sets it at Tk 170 a day". The Daily Star. 28 August 2022. Archived from the original on 29 November 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  25. ↑ "Tk 170 fixed as daily wage for tea workers". Prothom Alo. 28 August 2022. Archived from the original on 2 September 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  26. ↑ "Govt sets daily minimum wage at Tk 168 for tea garden workers". New Age. 13 August 2023. Archived from the original on 26 August 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  27. ↑ "Tea workers' daily minimum wage raised to Tk170 per day". Dhaka Tribune. 13 August 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  28. ↑ "Tea workers' daily minimum wage Tk 170". The Financial Express. 13 August 2023. Archived from the original on 3 May 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  29. ↑ "Bangladesh Tea Research Institute". Banglapedia .
  30. ↑ Chen, Liang; Apostolides, Zeno; Chen, Zong-Mao (2012). Global Tea Breeding: Achievements, Challenges and Perspectives. Hangzhou: Zhejiang University Press. p. 290.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.