Write a short note on tea plantation.
Answers
Answer:
Cultivation. Growing tea used to be done from seeds that were re-planted. Nowadays reproduction of tea plants is basically accomplished by taking cuttings from selected plants. The cuttings are taken from the chosen plants and then replanted onto nursery beds where they will remain for 12 to 18 months.
Tea is a tropical shrub and is cultivated mostly as a plantation crop. In its natural state, the tree may grow to a height of 9 to 12 meters, but it is regularly pruned to form a bush of 1.2 to 1.5 meters high. Tea is cultivated in a wide range of physical and climatic conditions.
Answer:
Tea is the most important of the beverage crops of the world. A much larger proportion of the world population drinks tea than coffee or cocoa.
Tea is grown exclusively in the tropical and sub-tropical regions, but consumed in all parts of the world.
Tea is made from the leaves of a tropical shrub, of the camellia family. Tea cultivation is believed to have originated in Yangtze valley of China as early as the 6th century AD.
It has always been valued for its flavour and stimulant qualities and was even used for medical purposes. Tea was introduced in Britain and rest of Europe in mid-17th century. Because of its popularity as a common drink large-scale commercial cultivation in plantation has started in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the former British colonies of East Africa.
Cultivation:
Tea is a tropical shrub and is cultivated mostly as a plantation crop. In its natural state, the tree may grow to a height of 9 to 12 meters, but it is regularly pruned to form a bush of 1.2 to 1.5 meters high. Tea is cultivated in a wide range of physical and climatic conditions. Tea cultivation is different from other crops.
The land, preferably on hill slopes, is first cleared. Tea seedlings or cuttings are raised in a nursery and when the plants reach a height of 20 cm, they are transplanted into the field.
They are usually planted in straight rows 1.5 meters apart. Weeding, manuring and pruning are done at regular intervals. The first picking is done at the end of the second year.
Tea picking and tea processing require special skill. Tea picking is a very skillful job and is usually done by women. Two tender leaves and a bud are usually plucked from each stem and in a year generally three pickings are done.
After picking, tea processing is also important, because it determined the quality of the finished tea. The three types of tea are the result mainly based on its processing.
These are:
(a) Black tea,
(b) Green tea, and
(c) Brick tea.
Black tea is prepared in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. The leaves after plucking are dried, crushed and fermented for sometime so as to reduce tannin content of tea by 50 per cent. Then, the fermented tea is fried and sieved into various grades.
Green tea is prepared in China, Japan and Taiwan. The green tea is not allowed to ferment. The leaves are dried, crushed and then rolled.
Brick tea is prepared from inferior leaves, broken twigs and dust tea. All these are mixed up and rolled into humps after mixing with rice paste.