Abstract
There is increasing evidence that climate change will strongly affect tea cultivation. It will be one of the challenging issues, particularly for the tea plantations of Assam, India. Based on a questionnaire survey carried out in four major tea-growing regions of Assam, viz., Upper Assam, South Bank, North Bank and Cachar, the study analyses tea growers’ awareness of climate change, its impact on tea, adaptive approaches undertaken and future strategies. Majority of respondents were aware of climate change and its effect on tea production. Tea growers attributed prolong drought, excessive precipitation within a short period, temperature extremes, increase in insect and disease infestation, the emergence of new insect pest species, increased weed infestation and wind velocity as underlying effects of climate change. Results also specified that tea growers had a positive approach towards adaptive management strategies to mitigate climate change. Adaptive measures executed to combat climate change included rainwater harvesting, irrigation, afforestation, biodiversity conservation, soil mulching and creation of wind barriers. As future management strategies, tea growers have opted to gradually replace synthetic fertilisers with organic manures and pesticides, construct anti-erosion measures along riversides and embankments, generate awareness programs among the workers and other residents on conserving biodiversity, generate clean energy for tea production and cultivate climate tolerant/resistant cultivars. The present study will be helpful to make more informed future strategies regarding best practices for tea cultivation under a changing climate for tea-growing regions all over the world.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abiodun, B. J., Salami, A. T., Matthew, O. J., Odedokun, S. (2013). Potential impacts of afforestation on climate change and extreme events in Nigeria. Climate Dynamics, 41,277-293. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-012-1523-9
Ahmed, S., Stepp, J. R., Orians, C., Griffin, T., Matyas, C., Robbat, A., et al. (2014). Effects of extreme climate events on tea (Camellia sinensis) functional quality validate indigenous farmer knowledge and sensory preferences in tropical China. PLoS One, 9, e109126. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.010912
Anantharaman, A. (2020). https://worldteanews.com/market-trends-data-and-insights/tea-board-of-india-brings-climate-change-fund-to-small-tea-growers. Accessed 12 Jan 2020.
Antony, B., Sinu, P., Rehman, A. (2012). Looper caterpillar invasion in north east Indian tea agro-ecosystem: change of weather and habitat loss may be possible causes? Journal of Tea Science Research, 2,1-5. https://doi.org/10.5376/jtsr.2012.02.0001
Arbuckle, J. G., Morton, L. W., Hobbs, J. (2013). Farmer beliefs and concerns about climate change and attitudes toward adaptation and mitigation: evidence from Iowa. Climatic Change, 118,551-563. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-013-0700-0
Arora, V., Montenegro, A. (2011) Small temperature benefits provided by realistic afforestation efforts. Nature Geoscience, 4,514-518. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1182
Bale, J. S., Masters, G. J., Hodkinson, I. D., Awmack, C., Bezemer, T. M., Brown, V. K., Butterfield, J., Buse, A., Coulson, J. C., Farrar, J., Good, J. E. G., Harrington, R., Hartley, S., Jones, T. H., Lindroth, R. L., Press, M. C., Symrnioudis, I., Watt, A. D., Whittaker, J. B. (2002). Herbivory in global climate change research: direct effects of rising temperature on insect herbivores. Global Change Biology, 8(1),16. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2486.2002.00451.x
Baruah, P. (2019). Tea: an important constituent of biodiversity of Assam, northeast India. International Journal of Agriculture Sciences, 11,8986-8989.
Bhagat, R. M., Gupta, P. P., & Gupta, N. (2016). Moving towards a climate resilient tea production system in Assam. https://www.ethicalteapartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Moving-towards-a-climate-resilient-tea-production-system-in-Assam.pdf. Accessed 12 Jan 2020.
Bhattacharyya, S. (2013). Tocklai prepares for climate change - tea clones exposed to extremes to check resistance https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/tocklai-prepares-for-climate-change-tea-clones-exposed-to-extremes-to-check-resistance/cid/278918. Accessed 12 Jan 2020.
Biggs, E. M., Gupta, N., Saikia, S. D., Duncan, J. M. A. (2018). Tea production characteristics of tea growers (plantations and smallholdings) and livelihood dimensions of tea workers in Assam, India. Data in Brief, 17,1379-1387. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2018.02.056
Chattopadhyay, N., Sahai, A. K., Guhathakurta, P., Dutta, S., Srivastava, A. K., Attri, S. D., Balasubramanian, R., Malathi, K., Chandras, S. (2019). Impact of observed climate change on the classification of agroclimatic zones in India. Current Science, 117,480-486. https://doi.org/10.18520/cs/v117/i3/480-486
Clements, D. R., Ditommaso, A. (2011). Climate change and weed adaptation: can evolution of invasive plants lead to greater range expansion than forecasted? Weed Research, 51,227-240. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3180.2011.00850.x
Cranham, J. E. (1966). Tea pests and their control. Annual Review of Entomology, 11,491-514. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.en.11.010166.002423
Deka, R. L., Mahanta, C., Pathak, H., Nath, K.K., Das, S. (2013). Trends and fluctuations of rainfall regime in the Brahmaputra and Barak basins of Assam, India. Theoretical and Applied Climatology,114:61-71. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-012-0820-x
Duncan, J. M. A., Saikia, S. D., Gupta, N., Biggs, E. M. (2016). Observing climate impacts on tea yield in Assam, India. Applied Geography, 77,64-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2016.10.004
Dutta, R. (2014). Climate change and its impact on tea in Northeast India. Journal of Water and Climate Change, 5,625-632. https://doi.org/10.2166/wcc.2014.143
FAO. (2015). Socio-economic implications of climate change for tea producing countries. Rome, Italy. www.fao.org/publications. Accessed 22 Jan 2020.
FAO. (2016). Report of the Working Group on Climate Change of the FAO Intergovernmental Group on Tea. Rome, Italy. www.fao.org/publications. Accessed 25 Jan 2020.
Gebrewold, A. Z., Yildiz, F. (2018). Review on integrated nutrient management of tea (Camellia sinensis L.). Cogent Food & Agriculture, 4,1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2018.1543536
Ghosal, S. (2019). Assam tea producers heaves a sigh of relief as intensity of rain lessens. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/assam-tea-producers-heaves-a-sigh-of-relief-as-intensity-of-rain-lessens/articleshow/70292424.cms. Accessed 25 Jan 2020.
Goswami, R. (2016). Climate map rings Assam tea alarm. https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/north-east/climate-map-rings-assam-tea-alarm/cid/1414919. Accessed 12 Jan 2020.
Kahn, B. (2015). Climate change poses a brewing problem for tea. Climate Central. http://www.climatecentral.org/news/climate-change-altering-tea-industry-19071. Accessed 25 Jan 2020.
Magar, C. K., & Kar, B. K. (2016). Tea plantations and socio-cultural transformation: the case of Assam (India). Space and Culture, 4, 25–39. https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v4i1.188
Marx, W., Haunschild, R., Bornmann, L. (2017). Global warming and tea production- the bibliometric view on a newly emerging research topic. Climate, 5,1,14. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli5030046
McInnes, K. L., Erwin,T. A., Bathols, J.M. (2011). Global Climate Model projected changes in 10 m wind speed and direction due to anthropogenic climate change. Atmospheric Science Letters, 12,325-333. https://doi.org/10.1002/asl.341
Nabuurs, G. J., Masera, O., Andrasko, K., Benitez-Ponce, P., Boer, R., Dutschke, M., Elsiddig, E., Ford-Robertson, J., Frumhoff, P., Karjalainen, T., Krankina, O., Kurz, W. A., Matsumoto, M., Oyhantcabal, W., Ravindranath, N. H., Sanz Sanchez, M. J., & Zhang, X. (2007). Forestry. In B. Metz, O. R. Davidson, P. R. Bosch, R. Dave, & L. A. Meyer (Eds.) Climate change 2007: mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (pp. 541–584). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Nowogrodzki, A. (2019). The changing seasons of tea Nature. 566,S10-S11.
Oweis, T., Hachum, A. (2009). Water harvesting for improved rainfed agriculture in the dry environments SP Wani J Rockstrom T Oweis Eds Rainfed agriculture-unlocking the potential. CABI Wallingford, 164,181.
Ren, T., Patel, M. K. (2009). Basic petrochemicals from natural gas, coal and biomass: energy use and CO2 emissions Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 53, 513-528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2009.04.005
Reyer, C., Guericke, M., Ibisch, P. L. (2009). Climate change mitigation via afforestation, reforestation and deforestation avoidance: and what about adaptation to environmental change? New Forests, 38(15),34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-008-9129-0
Sethi, L. N., Singh, N. A. (2014). Sustainability of roof water harvesting structure on hillock in North East of India. Journal of Basic and Applied Engineering Research, 1,42-46.
Wijeratne, M. A. (1996). Vulnerability of Sri Lanka tea production to global climate change. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 92,87-94. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00175555
Acknowledgements
The authors extend their sincere gratitude to the executives of tea plantations of Assam for providing details of information for the questionnaire and photographs of climate adaption practices. Sincere gratitude is also conferred to Mr. Rituraj Sharma, Communication Officer, Tocklai Tea Research Institute, for drawing the map of Assam representing all 4 tea-growing regions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Baruah, P., Handique, G. Perception of climate change and adaptation strategies in tea plantations of Assam, India. Environ Monit Assess 193, 165 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-08937-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-08937-y