NEW DELHI: World-famous teas from India’s rolling Darjeeling hills are facing an existential threat, as producers reeling from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and climate change struggle to stay afloat.
Grown in the Indian foothills of the Himalayas in the state of West Bengal, Darjeeling tea is also known as the “champagne of teas” for its vibrant yet refined taste, which has commanded a premium price and international recognition since it was first planted in the 1800s.
Tea plants in Darjeeling district, a region that sprawls across several towns including its namesake, were first introduced by the British during its colonial rule to counter the growing dependence on Chinese tea.
Though Darjeeling tea is one of the most expensive in the world and India’s first Protected Geographical Indication product, which gives it legal protection, today the local industry is suffering amid myriad challenges.
“We are headed towards large-scale shutdown of the entire industry,” Sparsh Agarwal, co-founder of Dorje Teas and a committee member of the Tea Research Association of India, told Arab News.
“We see that a majority of the tea gardens are actually on the verge of bankruptcy,” he said. “I would say that 90 percent of the tea estates in Darjeeling are up for sale.”
Tea growers are grappling with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the market, while also dealing with the effects of climate change, Agarwal said.
“The harvest season is reducing in time period, and we get freak of nature incidents like hailstorms and heatwaves. This affects the yield as well as the quality of the produce.”
Production of Darjeeling tea fell to 6.19 million kg by 2021, the lowest on record, according to data from India’s Tea Board.
Sandeep Mukherjee, principal advisor of the Darjeeling Tea Association, told Arab News that the “prolonged Covid pandemic further eroded the market abroad and domestically, and now the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war is also being felt.”
Darjeeling tea producers must also compete with tea from neighboring Nepal, which Mukherjee said is “being sold as Darjeeling tea,” and “eroding the market and tarnishing the brand Darjeeling.
“All these issues together along with the impacts of climate change compounded the existence of profitably running the tea estates,” he added.
The Darjeeling district has 87 certified tea gardens, for which problems started in 2017 when the local Gurkha community went on a 100-day strike to demand a separate state within India to protect their Himalayan culture.
The unrest coincided with Darjeeling’s unique harvesting times, known as “flushes,” leading to huge loss of revenue that has since impacted the estates’ management and operations.
“After 2017 all the gardens lost millions of rupees,” Anshuman Kanoria, chairman of Indian Tea Exporters Association, told Arab News.
Despite continued demands for financial assistance, Kanoria said “the government has not helped us in that regard.”
Kanoria also identified climate change as one of the main problems for Darjeeling, as it has been “aggravating the situation for the industry.”
For Dorje Teas’ Agarwal, though it is clear that “radical changes” are needed to save the Darjeeling tea industry, there is still hope of overcoming the struggle.
“We can tide over the crisis together, if we put our mind and hearts behind it.”
