Changing rainfall patterns, rising temperatures, and pest pressure are affecting flush, yield and quality across major tea belts.

For tea growers, the weather is becoming harder to read.

Longer rainless periods are being followed by intense bursts of rain. Day temperatures are rising. The normal flush pattern is being disturbed, while pests and diseases are adding to the pressure.

“The biggest challenge today is not simply less or more rain, but the growing unpredictability of temperature and rainfall,” said Bidyananda Barkakoty, adviser to the North Eastern Tea Association (NETA), based in Golaghat, Assam.

For growers, that unpredictability has practical consequences. Barkakoty noted that prolonged rainless periods followed by intense, short-duration rainfall were causing waterlogging and soil erosion, while higher daytime temperatures were becoming uncomfortable for tea bushes as well as workers.