Kolkata, India – World-famous Darjeeling tea gardens in India’s West Bengal state instantly whip up picturesque visuals of clouds floating over rolling hills lined in tea bushes the place girls, draped in vibrant sarongs, choose tea leaves that they acquire in woven baskets tied to their backs.

But there’s one other actuality behind these postcard visuals: a drop in manufacturing and demand as patrons flip to cheaper alternate options from neighbouring Nepal, endangering the way forward for an space, and its employees, as soon as identified for producing the “champagne of teas”.

“The future of Darjeeling tea is bleak and the end seems near if the situation remains the same,” warned Subhasish Roy, the supervisor of Arya Tea Estate in Darjeeling. “Several thousands of people will lose their livelihood and this heritage will be lost forever.”

The iconic Darjeeling tea business was began by the erstwhile British rulers who replanted bushes on the Indian hills from China within the mid-Nineteenth century.

Today, the hills have 87 tea gardens unfold throughout 17,800 hectares (44,000 acres) with a complete manufacturing of about 6,640 tonnes (6.64 million kg or mkg) of natural tea in 2022, decrease than the 7.69mkg produced in 2019, in accordance with the Tea Board of India, the apex physique of the tea business.

Tea consultants attribute a number of causes for the falling manufacturing, together with a virtually 40 % decline because the gardens have been transformed to completely natural to fulfill purchaser demand, mentioned Sanjay Choudhry, the proprietor of Ringtong tea property.

“We are also facing a severe labour shortage as the young generation is not ready to enter the industry and migration is rampant. Climate change is another reason for the decline in production,” he added.

Dip in exports

The premium high quality tea caters largely to the worldwide markets of Russia, Japan, Iran, the United States and European nations. But there was a decline in exports to those nations prior to now 5 years.

In 2022, Darjeeling exported 3.02mkg of tea or 45.48 % of all manufacturing, down from 3.71mkg or 48.24 % of the manufacturing in 2018, as per the Tea Board.

Even the general export of Indian tea was right down to 226.98mkg in 2022 from 251.91mkg in 2017, it mentioned.

Darjeeling tea producers blame the neighbouring nation of Nepal and its free commerce settlement with India as one of many key causes for squeezing their market share.

In 2022, Nepal exported about 15mkg of orthodox tea to India, up from 10mkg the earlier 12 months, in accordance with the Tea Board. Orthodox tea refers to unfastened tea leaf which is produced utilizing conventional or orthodox strategies, together with plucking, rolling, and drying. In Darjeeling, the tea gardens have factories to course of tea leaves. In Nepal, they have a tendency to promote tea leaves to factories.

Indian tea estates, not like these in Nepal, are additionally required to offer advantages like provident fund, gratuity, and medical services, amongst others, pushing up prices.

Ashok Lohia, chairman of Chamong tea estates which has 14 tea gardens within the hills and is likely one of the largest exporters of Darjeeling tea, says that Nepal has many benefits over India.

“Their orthodox production mainly comes from small growers who do not have processing factories and thereby their costs are much lower compared to us. Nepal tea also enjoys free trade with India but other neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka [are charged] 100 percent import duty” on their gross sales to India, Lohia mentioned.

Poor costs

High wages within the hills and low export worth has additionally taken a toll on the business, he mentioned.

“About 70 percent of the cost of production comprises manpower and wages,” Lohia mentioned. For occasion, he mentioned, across the 12 months 2000, tea pluckers earned about 35 rupees per day ($0.42) whereas the export worth of tea was roughly 10 euros ($11). Today, the wages are 250 rupees per day ($3) whereas the export worth is $19-$20 per kg.

Berlin-based Gunter Faltin is likely one of the largest importers of Darjeeling tea to European nations. European demand, he mentioned, is struggling due to “a double whammy of recession and pandemic that has reduced the buying capacity of our customers”.

On a latest go to to Darjeeling, he instructed Al Jazeera he was apprehensive that the rising imports of low cost Nepal tea would “destroy” the livelihoods of 1000’s of tea pluckers in Darjeeling. It is hurting his enterprise as nicely, he admitted.

The Darjeeling tea business immediately and not directly employs about 300,000 folks, which additionally consists of 55,000 feminine tea pluckers.

Even the pluckers are apprehensive about their future pointing to their colleagues who have been laid off or haven’t obtained their advantages on the 20 plantations which can be working in losses.

“We are still getting our wages and other payments on time but don’t know how long it would continue as the overall condition is not good … I am apprehensive about my future,” Sarla Thapar, 45, a tea plucker at Arya Tea Estate, instructed Al Jazeera.

According to Jeetendra Malu, the president of the Darjeeling Tea Association, almost 30 % of the gardens are defaulters and haven’t cleared the statutory advantages of their workers, like provident funds and gratuities. Problems began in 2017 and have worsened since, he added.

Downfall started in 2017

Tea growers within the hills say the almost five-month shutdown within the hills by a political outfit over its demand for a separate state in 2017 proved disastrous for the tea business, and it might by no means absolutely get well from it.

“The strike couldn’t have come at a worse time as it was a peak season for the first and second flush of tea that is our premium product,” mentioned Sumon Majumder, basic supervisor of Hmp Group Kolkata and exporters of Darjeeling tea. “The International buyers who had already made the orders were waiting for the supply but the shutdown stopped everything.”

“The global importers began to look for an alternative to buy tea similar to Darjeeling and stumbled upon Nepal that produced almost similar in looks but different in flavour and which was incidentally grown in the same altitude and climatic conditions with less cost of production. They cannot match our quality but exporters branded it as Himalayan tea in the international market and sold at a better price,” he mentioned.

Even home patrons started to mix Darjeeling tea with low cost high quality Nepal tea to mint cash as prospects might hardly spot any distinction between the 2 teas.

Ringtong tea property’s Choudhry has additionally raised severe questions with the Tea Board on the well being hazards attributable to Nepal tea and mentioned Monocrotophos, a banned insecticide, is rampantly utilized in Nepal.

“The Food Safety and Standards Act mandates the check of 34 health parameters at National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories [NABL]-accredited government lab before being deemed fit to supply in India. But the proper lab tests [on imports from Nepal] are hardly done, putting the lives of people in danger.”

What’s the best way out?

The Darjeeling tea business has been unanimously demanding a revision in India’s Free Trade Agreement with Nepal and strict implementation of a geographical indication (GI) tag that prohibits mixing of Darjeeling with different teas.

In 2004, Darjeeling tea grew to become the primary Indian product to obtain a GI tag as a result of its distinctive flavour and aroma.

“Undoubtedly, Darjeeling tea industry is on a ventilator and the situation is too bad. But we have to look for new International markets to survive. We cannot always blame the [foreign buyers] … We have to also explore the domestic market to expand our reach and find new buyers,” mentioned Anshuman Kanoria, chairman of the Indian Tea Exporters Association.

“We have to also strictly enforce GI tag and enforce an import duty to save our industry otherwise the end is not far,” he added, particularly since some worldwide patrons have stopped all purchases of Darjeeling tea after the 2017 agitation.

Senior officers of the Tea Board mentioned they have been wanting into the matter. “The board has already submitted a proposal [for a financial rescue package] to the Union Commerce Ministry for the tea industry that also includes Darjeeling tea,” mentioned Saurav Pahari, deputy chairman of the Tea Board of India.

The board, he added, has been issuing periodic notifications and circulars to forestall the passing of Nepal tea as Darjeeling tea.

But it has hardly managed to offer any solace to the business located in scenic hills. “If given a chance, most of the garden owners would love to exit from picturesque Darjeeling,” Kanoria conceded candidly.