"Climate-Change Threat for Tea Estates"

"Increasing incidences of pest outbreaks, prolonged periods of drought, change in the pattern of rain distribution, and rising number of hailstorms are harbingers of climate change for the already struggling tea industry sector.

“Climate change will definitely have a great impact on tea ecosystems and affect photosynthesis and crop productivity. However, the effect will be different for each region,” says the paper Climate Change and its Impact on Tea Plantations by B. Radhakrishnan, director, Tea Research Foundation under the United Planters’ Association of South India.

The paper said that analysis of data on the impact of weather change on the Nilgiri tea plantations showed no change in the quantum of rain received.

However, its distribution pattern had changed. The change in pattern was “drastic,” the paper said."

K.A. Martin reports for The Hindu October 12, 2015.