By : M. Mubarak Hossain, Panchagarh Published: 24 August 2025
Panchagarh district in the north of the country is said to be the second largest tea producing region. This district has been in the second position in tea production at a record rate for the past few years. However, tea production has decreased due to various reasons. Tea farmers are desperate because they are not getting the desired leaves.
It is known that new leaves are rotting as soon as they emerge from the buds of the tree. Insects are attacking the leaves. Insect attacks and rotting diseases are not being controlled even with the use of pesticides. In the fight to save the garden, production costs are also increasing due to the purchase of various pesticides and labor costs. Farmers are facing difficulties due to the increase in costs due to insects and rotting diseases.
Farmers say that Panchagarh has not received the expected rainfall this year. This time, the severe drought has affected the tea industry. The production of tea leaves has decreased due to the high incidence of red spider mites, currant beetles and loafers in the gardens. Amid the crisis, a new leaf rot disease is like a drought on top of a dead tree.
In tea gardens in different areas of the district, insect attacks and leaf rot have increased at a huge rate in every garden. Due to the decrease in leaf production, the factories are also facing a shortage of raw leaves. Most of the factories are operating in one shift. Some are running factories every other day or only 2-4 days a week. As a result, everyone from the factory owners to the workers are suffering.
Some tea farmers including Nur Alam Siddiqui, Abdul Khalek and Ahsan Habib of Tentulia said that in the current season, they are able to pay the factory the price of tea leaves up to 24-25 taka. Although it was 15 to 16 taka at the beginning of the season, the price of leaves increased later. Even then, due to various problems, we are not satisfied with this price. We are in trouble again due to leaf rot disease. The cost of production is increasing a lot while applying various medicines including fertilizers and pesticides to maintain the garden.
Meanwhile, despite being the third region of the tea industry and the second in production, there is no separate allocation of fertilizer for tea cultivation. In the current 2024-2025 fiscal year, Panchagarh was allocated 45,982 metric tons of urea, 14,916 TSP, 17,245 DAP, and 22,546 MOP according to the fertilizer demand. In the 2025-26 fiscal year, the ministry allocated an additional 1,000 metric tons of fertilizer compared to the previous year. Based on this allocation, fertilizer is divided into 5 upazilas. But tea cultivation is not included in this allocation.
According to the regional office of the Tea Board, there are 1,065 registered small-scale tea gardens and 8 large tea gardens in this northern district. There are 5,855 unregistered tea gardens and 20 large tea gardens. There are a total of 1,473 registered tea gardens and 5,875 unregistered tea gardens in the district. Green tea leaves are being produced in gardens covering 10,267.28 acres of land. Since there is no separate allocation of fertilizer for tea cultivation in this large region, fertilizer from the Boro-Aman allocation is used. As a result, tea farmers are facing a fertilizer crisis. On the other hand, since the fertilizer allocated from the Boro-Aman allocation is being used in tea gardens, the Aman-Boro farmers are facing a fertilizer crisis.
Tentulia Upazila Agriculture Officer Tamanna Ferdous said that the demand for fertilizer has been given as before. This time, it has also been divided according to the demand. But due to various plantations including tea, there may be a shortage of fertilizer. There is a need for more fertilizer.
Arif Khan, officer-in-charge of the Panchagarh regional office of the Tea Board, said, "Due to severe drought and heat, first red spider mites and then loafers attacked. After these were controlled, leaf rot disease started. We are advising farmers to spray copper, hydroxide or oxychloride fungicides in two phases. This is reducing the disease in the affected gardens. A few days ago, the daily collection of leaves had dropped to three lakh kg, which has now increased to five lakh. It is hoped that the situation will normalize soon and this time a record amount of tea will be produced in the plains. As for fertilizers, we send the fertilizer demand to the Ministry of Commerce through the Ministry of Agriculture. The farmers collect and use what is allocated from there through dealers."
When asked about the decline in tea production, he said, "It is true that tea production decreased last year. However, this year it has increased according to government records."
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