INTRODUCTION

Tea is the world’s most popular beverage, being favored by atleast half of the population of the world. It is the national drink of China, Japan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Great Britain and the former Soviet Union. Many African and near eastern countries also prefer tea to coffee, its nearest rival. Because un-brewed (to prepare a hot drink specially tea or coffee) tea leaves contain over twice the amount of coffee found in an equal weight of coffee beans, they are the major source of base product for medicinal caffeine. Tea is grown exclusively in tropical and sub-tropical regions, but consumed in all parts of the world.

ORIGIN

Tea is native to subtropics of Asia. It is asserted that tea plant was first found in the province of Assam in India. But some writers do not agree. They are of the opinion that tea originated in China. Its use was first discovered in China so it is known as “China Tea” in England. It became a popular drink into England from the 16th century. Before 1838 the tea in Europe had come from China. It is only a little over 150 years since tea, which today is one of India’s most valuable exports, was first shipped from India to Europe. The first recorded shipment was in 1834.

GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS

Tea is an evergreen plant- actually a tree crop pruned to form bushes- that grows best where temperature range between 55 and 95o F. few plants require as much moisture as tea. Over 100 inches of precipitation, well distributed throughout the year, is desirable. Humidity must also be high to assure abundant leaf formation. Also, tea cultivation is sensitive to soil quality. Some specialists claim that characteristic tea flavors, like those of wine, are the result of differences in types of soils.

Temperature
Tea crop grows best in a warm and humid climate. The tea plant requires high temperature and regular supply of moisture in summer. A temperature of 80o F favors the growth of tea plant.

Rainfall
Plenty of rain is required so the Monsoon districts of southern Asia enjoy an ideal climate for the growth of tea. Water requirements have been established at 80-100 inches of rainfall annually. Minimum requirement of rainfall is 60 inches. But heavy rainfall and high temperature favor the rich growth of tree plant as well as guarantee picking at the year around. Distribution of rainfall over the year should be such as to give a reasonable supply of even during the drier months.

Ideal Land
An ideal land for the growth of tea plant is an elevated land varying with the altitude. Excess of moisture around its roots is injurious so the ground on which it is grown must be well-drained and therefore tea is best grown on the slopes of the mountains within the tropics or in sub-tropics regions. It also flourishes on valley surface which has good drainage system. Tea is planted on hill sides because it provide good drainage and are not suitable for the other crops.

Soil
Tea requires a deep fertile soil containing organic matter with an element of iron. The soil should contain plenty of decayed animal and vegetable matter. The ideal soil for tea plant is virgin forest soil, a light rich, friable loam containing humus and iron. The presence of iron either in the soil or sub-soil is suitable for rich growth of tea and hence the red soil is excellent for tea plant. Too much time in soil is not suitable for the tea plantation.

ECONOMIC FACTORS

An economic factor that checks tea plantation is the requirement of a plentiful supply of cheap labor with a certain manual skill. For this reason tea plantation is confined in the areas where cheap labor is found in abundance. Its cultivation is uneconomical in the regions where labor charges are high.

METHOD OF CULTIVATION

The tea plants are raised from seeds and not from cuttings. Young tea plants are started in nurseries under protective conditions and are transplanted in the fields when they are a year old. Plucking leaves begins usually when plants are 3 years old. The highest yields are achieved at 6 years.
Pruning of the plant is an essential part of tea cultivation. It is done annually during the period when the plant growth has stopped. Tea bushes are constantly pruned to generate tender new leaf growth., which is the only part of the plant that is harvested. The aim of the pruning is to have new shoots bearing soft leaves in plenty. It also keep the tea bush low enough to facilitate the plucking of leaves from the ground.
In order to help the plant to grow plenty of leaves, considerable attention is paid by the tea planter to maintain it in good health. Frequent tilling of this soil to eradicate weeds, and the use of several kinds of manure is generally practised. Once tea leaves are plucked, they must be protected quickly at a nearby factory.

VARIETIES

Depending on how complete the process is, two types of “made” tea are manufactured. The leaves that are completely processed (i.e., withered, fermented and fixed) more black tea, the major product in world trade. Green tea is produced when withered leaves undergo a steaming or scolding to stop fermentation from occurring. Green tea is extremely popular in Japan and China, where it is almost completely produced by small-scale farmers.

LABOR DEMAND

Tea is grown in small gardens as in China and Japan and also in huge plantations as in India and Sri Lanka. The former is organized on the family basis but the plantation is a huge organization, requiring great skill in the management and capital.
The preparation of tea garden is a laborious task done by hand as the hill slopes cannot be ploughed by heavy machinery. After plantation, weeding, pruning and picking are all done by hand. Picking is the greatest consumer of labor. Assam gardens recruit labor from all over the India. Sir Lanka has to depend upon Tamils of southern India. Fortunately, women and children can also do the job, otherwise the problem of labor would have been at the more acute.
Preparations of tea leaves is no less a tedious work. If tea is to black, it is piled in heaps and allowed to ferment. If it is to be green, it goes to the fire-pan straight from the garden. Next it is rolled in balls and the sap is squeezed. It is then dried by the rays of the sun. Further drying is done in copper pans over a fire before it is ready to be assorted, blended, packed, and dispatched. Labor requirement is thus heavy.

PRODUCTION

Several of the world’s largest tea-growing nations are located largely, if not entirely, outside the Tropics. Most tea cultivation occurs in Asia, with India, China and Sri Lanka being the most important producers. The total world production of ‘made’ tea in 1989 amounted to 2.475 million metric tons. India, China and Sri Lanka are the largest growing nations, but tea has also become a major cash crop in Kenya, and small quantities are now cultivated in West Africa.

CHINA
China is the 2nd largest producer of tea in the world. Tea cultivation is traditional in China. Tea grows most between the 32nd and the 24th parallels, but is generally distributed over most of western and southern China. The principal tea-producing provinces are Honan, Hupeh, Kiangsi, Anhwei, Chekiang, Fukien, and Kwangtung. It is also grown in southern Yunnan, near Mengtsz, and Xiamen (Amoy). Finally there is a flourishing tea-growing industry in western Szechwan.
The Yangtze-Kiang Valley and the Szechwan Basin forms the northern limit of tea cultivation. Yangtze Basin forms the northern limit of tea cultivation. To its south, tea is grown in all areas where topographic and climatic conditions permit. The low-lying lands are given to food crops and the hill slopes, where rainfall is at least 1250 mm (50”), are under tea cultivation. Three pickings are possible in a year. The best leaves are picked in April.

JAPAN
Tea is grown in all the four islands. The hilly beck-cone of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, with 1500 to 2000 mm (60” to 80”) of rain mostly falling in summer and the volcanic soils rich in iron the humus, are best suited for tea cultivation. The dense population supply the labor force. Pacific slopes, on account of milder winter, have greater concentration of tea gardens. The tea for export mostly comes from Shizuoka prefecture, which accounts for half of Japan’s output. Tea gardens are partially situated on the alluvial lowlands of river terraces of Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures. Central Honshu also supplies half the crop of Green tea, chiefly in the hinterland of Shizuoka which is exported to the USA, USSR (former) and Canada. Tea is also cultivated on the southern of Fujiyama mountains.
There to four pickings are possible. Japanese farmer take great labor and care for maintaining the high quality of tea. The consequence is that though tea is grown in small gardens uniformly high grade tea is available for export.

TAIWAN
Taiwan with a rainfall of 2000 mm (80”) produces the world’s famous Oolong tea, mostly in the northwestern part of the island.

INDONESIA
Large tea gardens are located on the terraced slopes of the volcanic mountains of Java, particularly on the western part of the island. The soils are fertile and rainfalls throughout the year; the average being 3750 mm (150”) annually. The temperature in the tea gardens varies between 19o C and 21o C. the population is dense and the Javanese are industrious workers. In short, all favorable conditions for tea cultivation are available. But the quality of the Javanese tea is inferior on account of its mixture with the low quality tea grown in small gardens by primitive method. Tea plantation on a small but promising scale has been introduced in northeastern Sumatra. Tea estates have recently been established is Sarawak and some other islands of the Pacific.
INDIA
India is the leading produce of tea in the world and accounts for about 40% of the world’s output. Tea is the important cash crop in India.
The largest production of tea in India comes from the following areas:-

The Brahmaputra Valley of Assam
The Brahmaputra Valley of Assam produces more than 50% of the country’s output. The temperature here remains high and 2500 mm (100”) of rainfall takes place in summer. Unlike other tea growing regions, tea is also planted in the valley bottoms. Ditches are dug to drain water from the roots of the plants. Picking is done every 9 to 15 days and continues for 9 months from March. The plant takes rest in the 3 dry months.
The most intensive cultivation of the tea here is found on the red alluvium which forms small plateau in the districts of Tejpur and Bishnath.

The Surma Valley
This valley comprised mainly of Chachar district. There are many low hillocks all over the district. These hillocks are surrounded by low-lying flat lands, locally known as Bed, which was formerly a swamp. These swamps have now been drained, and in many cases black soil highly charged with organic matter has been uncovered. On these soils tea flourished exceedingly well. In addition to these flat lands, tea has been planted also plateau lands similar to that in the Brahmaputra valley.

The Duars
There is a strip about 16 km broad lying at the foot of the Himalayas, south of Sikkim and Bhutan. The most characteristic feature of this strip is a bank of hard but porous red soil on which tea has been extensively planted.

Darjeeling
Darjeeling is famed for the high quality tea produced at an elevation of 1000 to 1400 meters. The flavor is imparted by the moderate temperature. The July temperature is 16.5o C.

Western Ghats
The tea gardens of southern India are located on the hills and slopes of Western Ghats. On Nilgiri hills, north of Palghat gap is an important tea area. The Nilgiri Wynand and Malabar tea gardens are situated on the strip between the Nilgiri and Malabar coast at an elevation of about 95 meters above sea level. The tea gardens of Kanara and Davans are at an elevation of 1524 meters.
The southern part of the Western Ghats attract 2500 to 3750 mm (100 to 150 inches) of rainfall, while 3 months in a year are dry. The red clay is rich in iron. Picking continues for 10 months. But the quality is not good as that of Assam.

Other Areas
The Chota Nagpur plateau and Kangra valley produces small quantities of tea. The Kangra valley tea gardens lie in the valleys on the foot hills of Himalayas in the Himachal Pradesh, but the climate is not very favorable. A small area of tea is also cultivated in Mandi.
In UP, tea is also cultivated in Kumaon and Uttarakhand division, Dehra Dun. Tea is also grown in Ranchi. Ranchi tea gardens are situated in the Chota Nagpur Plateau.

BANGLADESH
Tea plantation was first established in Bangladesh area in the middle of the 19th century. Today tea plantations cover an area of 90,000 acres. The tea plantations occupy the hillocks and hills capped with laterite (a dense, porous, iron-bearing soil that can be quarried like stone) soils. Most of the plantations are located in southern and northeastern parts of Sylhet districts and a few are in Chittagong districts.

SRI LANKA
With a production of about 10% of the world’s tea, Sri Lanka is the third largest tea producer. Tea replaced coffee in India after it was wiped by an insect pest. The climatic conditions are very similar to Java. The best tea gardens attain a height of 1000 meters on laboriously terraced slopes. Organizational skill comes from England and the field workers from India.
The cool but humid highland of Central Sri Lanka provide ideal geographical conditions for successful tea growing. North of Ratnapura is an important tea area of Sri Lanka. The tea gardens of Kandy and Gompola are at an elevation of 700 meters above sea level.

AFRICA
Tea is grown here only in wetter parts of the African highlands. Important tea growing states are Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Congo, Zimbabwe, and Malawi (Nyasa land). Tea plantations are rapidly expanding in Kenya and Malawi. Kenya is the forth largest producer of the world.

WESTERN INDIAN OCEAN
There are three islands in the western Indian Ocean worth mentioning in connection with tea cultivation. One is Mahe which is the largest of the Seychelles group of islands.
Second island is the Mauritius. Tea cultivation and production take second place after sugar cane in the island’s economy, although tea occupies only 4% of the total cultivated area in Mauritius. The tea industry in Mauritius is now firmly established as a supplement to the sugarcane industry.
The third island is Reunion, which is formerly known as Ile Bourbon. It is also of volcanic origin. Tea is also grown on the volcanic slope of this island. Tea has become the base for the livelihood of a significant sector of the economy.

SOUTH AMERICA
Tea is grown in Brazil and Argentina. These are emerging nations of South America, which have embarked on major expansion schemes for tea plantations for which land is available in plenty. Currently these South American producers are hoping that the continuing price advantage of tea over coffee will encourage more tea drinking in North America and Europe where tea imports have been considerably increased over last few years.

OTHER COUNTRIES
Former USSR has emerged as a great tea producer. It was the 5th largest producer in the world in 1989. Tea is grown in the Trans-Caucasus Region.
Turkey is another country which produces large quantity of tea.

TRADE

Exports
India, Sri Lanka and Kenya dominate world export trade in tea and account for about 60% of total export. The share of India is slightly more than that of Sri Lanka. Kenya occupies 3rd place in export. Indonesia, Bangladesh and Malawi are other important exporters.

Imports
British are great tea drinkers and they are the main importers of tea. USA, Australia, Canada, Egypt and Iraq are other important importers.
Pakistan’s Imports
Pakistan consumes quite a large quantity of tea. In 1995-96, Rs. 4,115 million were spent on its import.
Year Quantity Imported (Tons) Money Spent (Million Rs.)
1975-76
1976-77
1977-78
1978-79
1979-80
1980-81
1981-82
1982-83
1983-84
1984-85
1985-86
1986-87
1987-88
1988-89
1989-90
1990-91
1991-92
1992-93
1993-94
1994-95
1995-96
1996-97
1997-98

(kindly use updated and fresh data from any economic geography book)