AGARTALA, July 19 (TIWN): Incessant rainfall for the last few days in State has resulted in crop loss in July for the tea industry.

“Tea production till May was very good. But it dipped in the month of June, primarily due to excessive rainfall and in conducive weather condition,” said P.K. Saha an official Tripura Tea Development Corporation Ltd.  

According to him, there was almost a 15 per cent dip in production in the month of June this year compared to the previous year. He said that the drastic dip in a single month pulled down the total production figure by almost three per cent from January to May, as compared to the corresponding period last year.

The incessant rainfall deprived crops of sufficient sunlight and a warm temperature during the day time in June, thus creating unfavourable conditions for crops to grow fully. The ideal weather conditions for the  tea  crop are rainfall at night and warm weather during the daytime.

The loss of crop in June has “upset” the tea industry to some extent. It is the production in May and June (also called second flush in the tea industry jargon) which is considered of premium quality.

“Loss of crop in May has really upset us as the second flush from the gardens of Tripura is of the best quality. We hope at least the production in June picks up,” said another industry source.