Tea Introduction in Pakistan

Introduction
Tea (Camellia sinesis) is a common form of beverage being used in almost all over the world. The per capita consumption of tea is approximately 1 kg/annum. The tea requirements are met through imports from the tea producing countries. It is established that 140-150 tonnes of tea is being imported every year with a total cost of Rs.8.0 billion (approx.) which is heavy burden to the national exchequer. The demand for tea is growing year by year in the wake of high population growth. Thus there was urgent need to introduce tea cultivation in Pakistan.

Technology Development, Demonstration and Recommendation  Cultivation
The activities on tea cultivation in Pakistan were started as early as 1958 but could not prove successful which lead to the understanding that tea may not become a commercial crop in the country. However, PARC initiated efforts from 1976-77 and later invited Chinese Experts in 1982 and 1987-88 who surveyed the prospective areas for tea cultivation and identified about 64000 ha of land with good to moderate potential. Based on the encouraging reports, PARC established National Tea Research Station, which was later, upgraded to the level of Institute. Through the research efforts suitable varieties were identified, nursery-raising techniques developed, soil amendments worked out, management practices, pest control, inter cropping etc. were developed and plantation was established on 43 acres.
The crucial stage now was to popularize it with the farmers who were reluctant, as it has long gestation period, lack of credit and processing facility. They demanded a Buy Back Agreement before plantation, which could only be provided if the processing facility was available. Looking to this situation, a development project was approved and implemented at NTRI, which helped to undertake the tea development activities more vigorously to increase the area, which has now reached to about 525 acres. Nursery raising facilities have been established at Shinkiari, Swat and Battagram where to the tune of about 0.8 million saplings are produced every year for distribution to the farmers.
Processing
To utilize the raw material i.e. tealeaves, initially a Green Tea Processing Plant was established with a capacity of 50 kg green tea per day which was later shifted to Swat. However, looking to the maximum consumption of black tea in the country, plans were prepared for installation of Black Tea Processing Plant with a capacity of one ton Black Tea per day. This plant was inaugurated by the President of Pakistan on September 07, 2001. This plant is processing about 10 tonns black tea every year which is expected to increase with the availability of raw material from the farmers’ fields.

The Technology
On the basis of encouraging results obtained through the studies conducted at NTRI in terms of tea production a complete package of production technology has been developed for the farmers. This includes availability of saplings, nursery-raising techniques, planting methods, soil amendments, training, punning, fertilization, harvesting of tea leaves, insect pest and disease management and inter cropping practices.
Key References
Khan B. M and H. U. Shah. (2004). Introducing tea culture in Pakistan. Farming Outlook 3(4): 14-16
Waheed A., F. S. Hamid, N. Ahmad and B. M. Khan. (2002). An over view of tea plantation in Pakistan. Online Journal of Biological Sciences: 1(4) 495-498.
Reference : parc.gov.pk