Status of rain water-harvesting in tea plantations of Northeast India to reduce the impacts climate change.

Abstract

Being a plantation crop, tea is innately sensitive to climatic conditions, and is vulnerable to the risks and impacts of climate change. Climate change is very much evident and is presently affecting tea cultivation in northeast India. Therefore, adoptions of corrective measures are crucial. In 2018-19, a questionnaire based survey was carried out in different tea estates of Assam which revealed that majority of the tea planters were aware of climate change and its adverse effect on tea production and adopted some corrective management strategies. One such approach undertaken in tea estates is rainwater harvesting. A typical tea plantation offers immense scope for rainwater harvesting. Tea planters started gradually either creating water bodies artificially or developing natural water-bodies already present within the tea estates. Such water-bodies serve as excellent reservoir for rain water which can be used for irrigation purpose during the drought period. Further, few tea estates are also utilizing the hullas, already present in the estates, for storing rainwater. Blocking of drains during the month of October for storing water is also practiced by some of the tea estates. There is also scope for rainwater harvesting from rooftops of factory and estate bungalows. These approaches exhibited that substantial and sustainable improvements in water harvesting can be well implemented in tea estates for reducing the impacts of climate change, more particularly during the periods of prolonged drought.

Keywords: adaptation, climate change, tea, Northeast India, rain water, water body