Tea plantation is highly climate dependent. Climate change and global warming have adversely affected tea plantation in Assam for last few years. It has reached to such a level that without irrigation, tea plantations are finding it difficult to survive. Climate change is one of the top five challenges of the tea industry in Assam. NETA Tea Academy has recently organised a two days workshop on “Importance of Technology driven irrigation & fertigation in Tea” at the HQ of North Eastern Tea Association (NETA) at Golaghat.
Dr. P. Soman, Global Agronomist and Plant physiology expert from Jain Irrigation systems Ltd. was the key speaker at this workshop who in depth covered “how changes in Agronomy help micro irrigation technology to enhance crop performance”. Vinay Radhakrishnan, Technical expert from Grundfos pumps presented the importance of hydro pneumatic pumps of advanced technology. Piyush Gattani, CEO of MD’s Organic (Distributor of Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd) presented the cost economics of installing Drip irrigation with fertigation and automation in Tea. Shiv Saria, senior Tea planter from West Bengal shared his wide experience and benefits he gained by using micro irrigation in tea plantation. The second day workshop was practical field visit to a tea plantation in Karbi Anglong where Jain Irrigation Systems for the first time in India have installed Drip Irrigation with Fertigation and Automation in around 100 Hectares of Tea plantation successfully. Jain Irrigation is also working hand in hand with the said tea plantation to introduce here the latest precision micro irrigation technology i.e IOT based “Jain Logic” or need based irrigation system. In this system the decision to irrigate and fertigate an agricultural field is derived based on inputs received from satellite field data, soil moisture sensors and other applications.
The two days workshop conducted by NETA Tea Academy in association with MD’s Organic was an eye opener to new possibilities of sustainable agriculture development and a way to deal with challenges faced by the Tea farmers of Assam.
