Northern Bangladesh’s flatlands tea industry faces crisis

Staff reporter :

The flatlands tea industry in northern Bangladesh is confronting a severe crisis, with recent data highlighting a sharp decline in both production and cultivated area, particularly from Panchagarh, indicate that struggling farmers are being forced to uproot tea bushes, threatening national output and livelihoods.

According to the Bangladesh Tea Board, tea cultivation across 11,750 acres in the five northern districts — Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Lalmonirhat, Dinajpur, and Nilphamari — fell by approximately 3.58 million kilograms in the 2024 season compared to the previous year.

Panchagarh alone recorded a staggering drop of 3.4 million kilograms, making it the hardest-hit district.

Overall, production in the region totaled 14.39 million kilograms, while the land under cultivation shrank by 569 acres, making the northern flatlands the country’s second-largest tea-producing region after Sylhet. Nationally, Bangladesh produced 93 million kilograms of tea in 2024.

The human cost of this downturn is evident in Panchagarh, where many growers are turning to vegetable farming. Shahjalal, a farmer in Panchagarh Sadar, exemplifies this trend.

After enduring losses worth lakhs of taka, he cut down the seven-acre tea garden he had tended for 15 years and converted it to vegetable cultivation.

Farmers and industry insiders attribute the slump to multiple factors: unfair pricing of green leaves, poor maintenance of gardens, and the influence of a syndicate formed by factory owners.

Azharul Hoque, a local grower, shared, “We were getting between Tk12 and Tk16 per kilogram of leaf over the past four years, whereas in 2019, prices ranged from Tk28 to Tk37. I had to cut down two and a half acres of my 20-acre garden, even after spending Tk5 lakh annually to subsidize it.”

Although the current season has seen green leaf prices rise to Tk25–30 per kilogram, previous years of instability have driven many away.

Shahinul Islam, who cut down 25 bighas (8.3 acres) of his garden, added, “With rising costs for fertilisers, pesticides, and labour, uncertain leaf prices make tea cultivation unsustainable.”

Tea cultivation in Panchagarh began around 2000, as farmers sought alternatives after losses in sugarcane production. The region now hosts 30 large estates and nearly 8,400 small gardens.

Experts are urging government intervention to prevent the sector’s collapse, recommending that tea be promoted as an export-oriented commodity under state support.

Md Arif Khan, acting officer at the Tea Board’s Panchagarh office, acknowledged the challenges: “Falling leaf prices discouraged farmers, leading to garden clearances and reduced production. However, the recent price recovery indicates that growers are slowly bouncing back.”

Industry voices warn that without export policies, state support, and fair pricing mechanisms, farmers may abandon tea cultivation entirely, threatening the future of northern Bangladesh’s flatlands tea sector.