PARC working on enhancing tea cultivation to save Forex

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) is working on enhancing tea cultivation to reduce dependence on its imports and saving foreign exchange. Pakistan has great potential in producing both black and green tea, Chairman PARC Dr Muhammad Azeem Khan said on Monday. National Tea & High Value Crops Research Institute (NTHRI) is working successfully in genetic improvement in tea germplasm and standardization of nutritional requirements of tea and other high value crops and tea plantation also maintains ecological balance, he said. Khan added that tea is one of the most important non-alcoholic beverage drinks worldwide and has been gaining further popularity as an important health drink in view of its medicinal value. According to FAO statistics 2017 China is the leading producer of tea in the world at 2,473,443 tonnes annually while Pakistan is much behind in this race as it is the importer of tea. The high import bill of tea for a developing country like Pakistan became a great problem; therefore government of Pakistan has established National Tea Research Station, PARC Shinkiari, Mansehra in 1986 which later reorganised as National Tea & High Value Crops Research Institute during 2013. NTHRI comprises of Tea Garden Area under high value crops, Tea Nursery and Tea Processing Units and working for obtaining production of fresh tea leaves and carrying out research activities on various aspects of tea cultivation and management.

In this regard NTHRI imported Pilot Turkish Black Tea Processing Plant donated by CAYKUR, Rize, Turkey. Until now nearly 13000kg of green and black tea is being processed with tea plantation on 2.5 acres area in Baffa, Mansehra is achieved, furthermore, production of tea nursery plants of the 15000 selected cultivars is achieved.

Green tea processed at the NTHRI on a small scale gave better response from the consumers in the market. The import and consumption of green tea in Pakistan is low as compared to black tea, which can be achieved within minimum period. A Pilot Green Tea Processing Plant procured from China with the Cooperation of Pakistan Science Foundation also installed at NTHRI which can process 80 to 100kg per day.