The state-owned Bangladesh Tea Board (BTB) is planning to produce genetically engineered winter-friendly tea plant in the country for raising the yield in a bid to meet the growing demand for tea, said officials.
In this regard, BTB reached an understanding with the departments of botany and genetic engineering of Chittagong University recently to jointly launch a study on ‘gene-mapping’ for identifying the favourable genes for producing genetically modified clone tea for this purpose, officials added.
‘We will start our joint study very soon for producing genetically modified winter-friendly tea plant in our country which can help raise our tea yield to meet the growing demand,’ said the member (research and development) of BTB, Abul Kasem.
‘There may be a revolution in tea production in our country leading to a huge increase in output if we can produce modified clone tea by genetic engineering,’ Kasem added.
‘Presently, during the winter season in our country tea production remains suspended for four months because tea plants hardly develop new leaves during the winter season,’ he pointed out.
‘The country loses an estimated potential of 30 million kg of tea, valued about Tk 600 crores each year, due to the tea plants’ inability to grow new leaves,’ he pointed out.
‘If we can produce genetically modified clone tea plants, tea will be produced in the winter and as a result our plucking will continue round the year, leading to much higher yield,’ he observed.
‘Presently, the yield of tea per hectare in our country is 1,250 kg only. In many tea producing countries like Sri Lanka, Kenya, Vietnam, China and India, the yield per hectare is over 10,000 kg. In Bangladesh also we can reach to the same level if we plant genetically modified clone tea,’ he added.
‘If we fail to increase our production, it will be very difficult to meet the growing demand for tea in our country, and at one stage we may need to import tea from abroad,’ he pointed out.
‘Fortunately, we have already got a positive response from some researchers of Chittagong University’s botany and genetic engineering departments who want to help us in our mission,’ he said.
A researcher of the genetic engineering department of Chittagong University, Dr Mohammad Forkan, told New Age that he would join the research to be launched by the BTB for production of genetically modified tea.
‘It will be a great achievement for our country if we can produce genetically modified tea. We can go for cultivation of such type of tea in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and other remote hilly areas for raising our tea output,’ he said.
‘The quality and taste of the tea also may be improved by genetic modification,’ he added.
Presently, Bangladesh has 156 tea gardens, mostly located in Sylhet, producing about 58 million kg of tea annually, said sources in the tea sector.
