Tata Beverages seeks study on climate change impact on Assam tea production

Tata Global Beverages announced on Monday it has commissioned the Tea Research Association (TRA) to identify indicators of climatic changes that will impact tea growing regions in Assam in the next 50 years.

"The company as part of its association with Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP), has commissioned TRA to identify and capture indicators of climatic changes that will impact India's tea growing regions in the next 50 years," a statement said.

This project coves predictions on climate change impact in the four tea production regions of Assam - upper Assam, south bank, north bank and Cachar.

The company said the report aimed at identifying those areas that would continue to remain suitable for tea cultivation and those areas that would require adaptation and those that might become unsuitable and hence, might need to switch from tea to other crops.

According to TRAs deputy director and report author R.M. Bhagat, preliminary findings indicate that south bank region, parts of upper Assam and Cachar are the suitable regions whereas north bank region is comparatively less suitable.

The report - The Impact of Climate Change on Tea Growing Regions of Assam, India - is being jointly prepared by TRA, ETP and the Tata Global Beverages.

"The predicted probability distribution of tea in the future shows that by 2050, the suitability of these tea growing regions of Assam will reduce drastically, and tea production could shift towards comparatively higher and cooler altitude areas," a release said.

"Tea growing regions are likely to be severely susceptible by 2050 to changing climate, if adaptation measures for combating the change are not adopted," said company managing director and CEO Ajoy Misra.