-Chandrani Sinha
Assam tea is globally known for its unique strong color, flavor and taste of tea. The state produces more than half of India’s total tea production, thus earning the country a considerable amount of revenue from its export. Assam alone contributes 17 percent to global tea production. But things started changing when research indicated that tea yields in Assam are expected to decline by up to 40 percent by 2050. And this has directly to do with climate change in the region. Keeping this in mind many young small tea growers chooses Vedic methods to grow their greens.
By Chandrani Sinha
35 years old Abhijit Das is a small tea grower in Assam. He is one of the few organic tea growers in Assam but what makes his garden different from the other garden is that – it uses ancient Vedic methods to grow tea.
In 2008 Abhijit in his 7 hectare sets his tea garden which is situated in the Kathaldanga village of Pabhoi, in Biswanath Chariali of Assam named as Mrittika Natural farm.
“Mrittika means soil in Sanskrit and so to improve its quality we adopted Vedic methods. it also helps in fighting climate change effects and pest removal from leaves. Eg we use in place of chemical fertilizer we use Jeevamruth” says Abhijit
Jeevamrutha is a natural liquid fertilizer. It is made by mixing water, manure, and urine from cows with some mud from the same area as the manure will be applied later. Food is then added to speed the growth of microbes sometimes jaggery or gram flour too can be used in it.
Mrittika now produces three different varieties of tea which include Green hand-rolled, Black or orthodox hand-rolled, and White Peony tea.
Like Abhijit, there is a number of young planters and farmers who are using Vedic methods to harvest teas.
Other methods include Panchagavya which is an organic product that helps in promoting growth and providing immunity in the plant system.
Panchagavya consists of nine products viz. cow dung, cow urine, milk, curd, jaggery, ghee, banana, Tender coconut, and water. When suitably mixed and used, these have miraculous effects.
Sasyagavya, Dhanyagavya etc. All these are mentioned in ancient Vedic manuscripts.
Why sudden shift from organic to Vedic?
In 2013 an environmental activist from Canada visited Northeastern India. Her name is Peggy Carswell. Peggy was the winner of the 2016 Women’s World Summit Foundation award. She coordinates with the Canadian non-profit organization Fertile Ground and has connected to as many small tea growers and farmers in India with resources, training, and educational materials. She trained many small tea growers in the Northeast to adopt the Vedic methods in farming.
“ I met Peggy in 2013 in a workshop, she is a great inspiration. Also Neelam Dutta who is a well known award winning organic farmer from Pabhoi inspired me. Since then I adapted the Vedic methods in my farming. It is almost similar to organic farming but some of the methods we follow have been mentioned in ancient Vedic scripts written by the scholars and saints of early times with detailed description”. added Abhijit
Scientists say that the impact of changes in temperature and rainfall patterns is already showing in Assam’s tea production.
The main reason which contributes to climate change is erratic rainfall, sudden rise in temperature, erosion, increase of dry periods and altering precipitation patterns, Increase in a number of crop-damaging pests and less humidity in the soil.
Alike Abhijit, Rana Gogoi started Lakhimi Tea farming in 2008 in Kaliapani, Geleki situated in the Sivasagar district of Upper Assam.
He produces Green Tea, Pan-Fried Tea, and Orthodox black tea.
Rana says “ we produce 2000 kg per year, climate change has an adverse effect on small tea growers but then we use all-natural methods to grow tea in our garden which helps”
Since yield is directly associated with revenue generation, the changing climate is impacting the economic structures of those reliant on tea, particularly the small growers. The Vedic method now is giving some respite from the vulnerability they face in the system.
(This story have been done as a part of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) Media fellowship for Climate Change reporting in Himalayan Region – 2021)
Chandrani Sinha is an independent journalist who works on climate change, gender, health and sustainable development from Northeast India.
(This story have been done as a part of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) Media fellowship for Climate Change reporting in Himalayan Region – 2021)
Chandrani Sinha is an independent journalist who works on climate change, gender, health and sustainable development from Northeast India.
Assam Climate Northeast tea TeaGarden)
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