COVID-19: Tea Board issues advisory to gardens

Kolkata, Mar 23 () In view of the lockdown in mostparts of West Bengal including tea growing areas, the TeaBoard has asked the gardens to discard overgrown leaves whichcould not be plucked during the period.

The state government has issued lockdown ordersstarting 5 pm on Monday till March 27.

In an advisory to the gardens, the Board said severaltea growing districts may witness disruption in pluckingbecause of the present crisis over the coronavirus.

"If there is a lockdown in the tea growing area formore than 10 days, it may lead to overgrown shoots beingplucked and manufactured, which may in turn lead to severedrop in quality," the advisory said.

In view of the above, such gardens and small growerswho may have disruptions in activities and who could not pluckquality green leaves on time are advised to discard thoseovergrown leaves and pluck and manufacture only the subsequentgrowth.

"This is being done to uphold the quality of tea inthe face of outbreak," it added. dcNN NN