Tea cultivation may shift to higher altitudes, says study

Rising temperatures due to climate change will take its toll on tea production in Assam with Tea Research Association (TRA) fearing that cultivation will shift to higher altitudes.
According to preliminary findings of a study titled "The Impact of Climate Change on Tea Growing Regions of Assam, India", the predicted probability distribution of tea shows that by 2050 the suitability of tea growing regions in Assam will reduce drastically
Tea production could shift towards comparatively higher and cooler altitude areas, the study has found.
"The initial findings also identify new major opportunities for the industry such as new areas for tea cultivation due to shift in suitability of growing regions," said R M Bhagat, Deputy Director of TRA, Tocklai.

Preliminary findings indicate that the South bank region, parts of Upper Assam and Cachar are suitable regions, whereas the North bank region was comparatively less suitable.
Tata Global Beverages, as part of its association with Ethical Tea Partnership has commissioned TRA to identify and capture indicators of climatic changes that will impact India's tea growing regions in the next 50 years.

"By 2050, tea growing regions are likely to be severely susceptible to changing climate if measures for combating it are not adopted," Ajoy Misra, MD and CEO, Tata Global Beverages said.
"As an industry, we need to collectively take corrective steps to ensure that we conserve energy and other scarce resources," he said, adding a fast growing economy like India will need to focus on being an economic powerhouse and also a global environmental leader.

This project covers predictions on impact of climate change in the four tea production regions of Assam - Upper Assam, South bank, North bank and Cachar.
The predictions are being made with the help of existing baseline data along with the most recent UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report to create likely scenarios of tea growth in the four regions by 2050.
The report aims at identifying areas that will continue to remain suitable for tea cultivation, areas that will require adaptation and those that may become unsuitable and hence may need to switch from tea to other crops.