With incomparable geographical and climatic diversities, Nepal holds a lot of prospect for producing a variety of species of tea. Nepali teas are popular in several countries, including China, because of their unique appearance, aroma and taste. Prior to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nepali tea was one of the main souvenirs Chinese and other tourists would buy and bring it back home with them after completing their trips to Nepal. The demand for Nepali organic tea can be much higher in the global market if this product is promoted and marketed there in a more effective manner. Until one and a half decades ago, many hillside farmers used to farm tea as subsistence farming. But with the passage of time, they have developed tea into an important cash crop. They now are specialising only in tea production.

This gradual switch from the traditional farming to the commercial one is believed to have contributed much to reducing poverty rates among small holder tea farmers. An estimated 70 per cent of orthodox tea produced in the country till 2006 was by small farms. This type of tea has now become a profitable crop for a lot of hillside farmers. Orthodox tea is of mainly four types: first flush, second flush, monsoon flush and autumn flush. The National Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB) also deserves the credit for diversifying tea and coffee farming in the country. It assists farmers in expanding tea farming. Until 2000, the country used to export only around 100-150 tons per annum. Following the adoption of liberal policies and expansion of tea farming, the country currently produces some 16.29 million kilograms of tea per annum on an area of 16,718 hectares. This accounts for about 0.4 per cent of the total global tea production. The country exports some 4,000-5,000 tons of tea annually.

Countries like India, China, Pakistan, Australia, Germany, France, Poland, the Netherlands, Japan, Belgium and the United States of America (USA) are the major markets for Nepali tea. Tea farming does not have so long history in Nepal. It had begun since the Rana period. The first tea bushes in the country are believed to have grown from seeds given as a gift to the then Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana by the Chinese Emperor. However, our tea industry owes its roots to the colonisation of India by the East India Company. In the 1860s, hybrids of tea bushes were brought from Darjeeling to establish the Ilam Tea Estate in Ilam district as Nepal's first tea garden. The tea saplings were planted in the area located at an altitude of 4,500-5,000 feet above sea level. Initially, there were a handful of districts where tea used to be produced.

Meanwhile, according to a news report carried by this daily on Monday, tea producers in Ilam have been waiting for the signing of a tea trade agreement with China. In Ilam alone, tea worth millions of dollars has been stored inside warehouses since last year because of the closure of boarder and China’s trade ban. Anyway, the NTCDB is planning to move the process of signing a memorandum of understanding with the relevant Chinese authority ahead in the near future. The proposed deal is expected to help boost the country’s tea export to the northern neighbour.