Anisur Rahman Khan :
Country’s tea production will fall and its quality may deteriorate due to non-plucking of tea leaves in this full season on account of strike by the tea garden workers across the country.
The tea estate owners are incurring loss of Tk 20 crore as loss per day since the tea garden workers of 241 tea estates went on a non-stop strike for a hike in wage to Tk 300 from Tk 120 per day from August 9, sources said.
The tea garden workers have continued their strike and demanded Prime Minister’s interference directly in this regard.
They also said that they would withdraw their ongoing strike and join the work after receiving video message from the Prime Minister.
The officials concerned and experts have expressed their deep concern over the ongoing strike of the workers, which could hamper the tea production.
Sources said, Bangladesh exported $4.33 million in Tea, making it the 56th largest exporter of Tea in the world in 2020.
“We are very concern as the tea production will likely be decreased due to the workers strike. The quality of tea will also be deteriorated for not plucking tea leaves timely,” Bangladesh Tea Board (BTB) Chairman Major General Md Ashraful Islam said while talking to The New Nation on Wednesday.
A comprehensive plan is needed among the stakeholders to fix the tea garden worker’s wages, the BTB Chairman said adding that the Tea Garden Association, Estate owners and Labour Ministry normally deal the matter.
When asked regarding impact on tea production if the ongoing strike is prolonged, he replied, ‘It is needed to be resolved soon. The tea workers are getting Tk 120 as wage and their demand is Tk 300, which should be solved by the relevant stakeholders otherwise the tea production will decline.”
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s tea industry has set successive records of production and export in the 168 years of commercial production and targets 140 million kg output in 2025. Earlier, the country has set a record in tea production through producing a total of 96.50 million kilogrammes (kgs) of the world’s one of top commodities in 2021.
“Price of essential items are skyrocketing, but we are getting only Tk 120 after working from dawn to dusk. The money we get in a day is not enough to buy one litre of oil. We run out of money after buying 2 kg of vegetables and the wage must be raised to Tk 300 to save the workers’ lives,” Khairun Akter, President of Bangladesh Cha Kanya, an organisation of female tea workers, said.
“We pluck leaves by the sweat of our brows under the scorching sun and get wet in incessant rain and getting Tk 120 per day. We are passing very hard days as prices of daily commodities beyond our limit,” Sadhan Santal, President of Chandpur Tea Garden Panchayat in Habiganj said.
Earlier in December 2020, leaders of the union said the owners’ organisation, Bangladesh Tea Association, had signed a deal with the workers’ group for a pay hike to Tk 300 per day, but it has not been implemented the agreement.
However, Bangladesh Tea Board credited the efforts of the government, owners and workers to keep productions at the tea plantations normal amid the coronavirus pandemic for the milestone.
The government came to the industry’s rescue with a stimulus package, while the commerce ministry and the board chipped in with regular monitoring and advice to the tea garden management.
The output in 2021 was still higher than the previous record of 96 million kg in 2019.
According to the Bangladesh Tea Board, the previous monthly production record was 13.4 million kg in 2019.
October’s record yield accumulated to 79.3 million kg tea produced this year, exceeding the 2021 target of 77.7 million kg with two months to spare. In 2020, Bangladesh produced 86.3 million kg tea.
The demand for tea is going up every year. The Tea Board said the demand was 86 million kg in 2017 when Bangladesh produced almost 79 million kg. It rose to 90.45 million kg in 2018 before climbing to 95 million kg the following year.
It dropped to 84 million kg last year amid the pandemic but the export leapt to 2.17 million kg in 2020 from 600,000 kg in 2019.
However, only 500,000 kgs of tea were exported until October last year.
In Bangladesh, the greater Sylhet region has 136 of the 167 tea estates – 91 in Moulvibazar, 25 in Habiganj and 19 in Sylhet. And there are 21 more in Chattogram, eight in Panchagarh, two in Rangamati and one in Thakurgaon.
