Tea Industry in Bangladesh
INTRODUCTION
Bangladesh is a small tea producing country sharing 2% of the world's Tea production. Tea is an agro based, lab our intensive and export oriented sector and plays an important role in the national economy through export earnings, trade balancing and employment generation. Our Tea industry dates back to 1857 when the first tea garden was established at Malnicherra in Sylhet District. Today we have 163 Tea Gardens with a grant area of 1,15,757.41 hal of which 52,317.21 hal or 45% is under cultivation. Though our tea industry suffered a serious setback in 1971 but we could succeed in reversing with the help of the government, foreign assistance and hard work of our planters. It is hoping to increase our production to an average of over 1500 Kg per hal in a few years time. We have undertaken measures to improve our quality of tea by extending the area with new varieties of hybrid clone, modernizing factories and improving infrastructure. We now annually produce 60 million Kg of Tea and we hope to increase our production to 90 million Kg in the next 15 years.
This paper attempts to devise a strategy to promote effective social dialogues between the tea plantation workers and their employers. It also attempts to determine the practicality of providing social protection to women workers through their own organizations and thereby enhances their labor productivity. Systematic training for the members of the workers' organization has proved to be a breakthrough in terms of skill development, consciousness rising, and blossoming of self -confidence. Hence, the possibility of providing skill training to the workers, particularly women workers through their organization, has also been explored in this paper.
The art of tea cultivation in Bangladesh began over a century and a half ago in the 1840s near the Chittagong Club. The first tea garden to be established was Malnicherra in Sylhet in 1854. Its commercial production began shortly thereafter in 1857. Today, the
Bangladesh is a small tea producing country sharing 2% of the world's Tea production. Tea is an agro based, lab our intensive and export oriented sector and plays an important role in the national economy through export earnings, trade balancing and employment generation. Our Tea industry dates back to 1857 when the first tea garden was established at Malnicherra in Sylhet District. Today we have 163 Tea Gardens with a grant area of 1,15,757.41 hal of which 52,317.21 hal or 45% is under cultivation. Though our tea industry suffered a serious setback in 1971 but we could succeed in reversing with the help of the government, foreign assistance and hard work of our planters. It is hoping to increase our production to an average of over 1500 Kg per hal in a few years time. We have undertaken measures to improve our quality of tea by extending the area with new varieties of hybrid clone, modernizing factories and improving infrastructure. We now annually produce 60 million Kg of Tea and we hope to increase our production to 90 million Kg in the next 15 years.
This paper attempts to devise a strategy to promote effective social dialogues between the tea plantation workers and their employers. It also attempts to determine the practicality of providing social protection to women workers through their own organizations and thereby enhances their labor productivity. Systematic training for the members of the workers' organization has proved to be a breakthrough in terms of skill development, consciousness rising, and blossoming of self -confidence. Hence, the possibility of providing skill training to the workers, particularly women workers through their organization, has also been explored in this paper.
The art of tea cultivation in Bangladesh began over a century and a half ago in the 1840s near the Chittagong Club. The first tea garden to be established was Malnicherra in Sylhet in 1854. Its commercial production began shortly thereafter in 1857. Today, the