TEA IN THE WESTERN HIMALAYAS

摘要

Agriculture has been a main stay of livelihood in human civilization. The western Himalayan region being highly fragile has always been a risk prone for the agriculture dependent livelihood. Extreme weather conditions such as chilling winters, high rainfall during monsoon and droughts in the remaining year, frequent hail and snow and other vagaries like frost make agriculture a risky proposition. Degraded soils in sloppy terrains and continuous soil erosion further aggravate the situation. Wild animals, the inhabitants of the adjoining forest areas, continuously pose a threat to agricultural production and now a days to such an extent that the growers prefer to abandon the farming in lieu of other alternatives. Compared to plains, high crop volumescan never be expected from the Himalayan agriculture even during the normal weather seasons. That is one dimension of suitability of the Himalayan regions for agriculture. The other dimension is that many locations across the regions are the unique nicheareas bestowed with picturesque uniform sloppy land, mild temperature, good rainfall and suitable soil characteristics to nourish and nurture specialized crops which otherwise cannot be grown elsewhere. China hybrid tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze), a flavoury tea, is one such crop which finds a great scope for cultivation in the western Himalayan region. Humid temperate zone with high rainfall and acidic soil pH in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh states in the western Himalayas have been growing such tea for more than 150 years. Tea not only improves the economic condition of land holders but, being a labour intensive enterprise, also generates employment. Therefore, development and sustenance of tea industry would be a major factor for socio-economic growth of these rural areas. Besides, tea cultivation is also environment friendly as it conserves soil water and checks soil erosion in the hilly terrain. Tea cultivation in the western Himalayan region dates back to 1835 when tea saplings andseed were introduced in the region by the British for trial purpose.