Yields have fallen to an average of 8,500 tonnes a year since 2010, down from about 10,000 tonnes a year between 2000 and 2009, according to the Indian Tea Association (ITA). "Darjeeling tea is facing a big disaster," Arun Singh, head of Goodricke Group Ltd, which has more than 10 tea estates in the region, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. ECONOMIC IMPACTThe Darjeeling hills, in West Bengal state, host 87 tea estates employing some 70,000 people. The change in rainfall patterns is not the only pressure on the beverage, tea growers say. Rising labour costs, the loss of skilled workers to other jobs, falling demand, and aging tea bushes are also hurting tea production, growers say.

Source: dna February 01, 2017 09:00 UTC