Present Status and Future Prospects of Tea production and Research on Varietal Improvement in Bangladesh

Tea is one of the most important non-alcoholic beverage in the world and has been gaining further popularity as an important ‘health drink’ in view of its inferable medicinal value. In Bangladesh, commercially tea was cultivated since 1854 by establishing first tea garden Malnicherra Tea Estate in Sylhet. From 1947 to 2020, tea growing area, production and per hectare yield were increased 127.71%, 370.53% and 137.96% respectively. The major reasons behind the increasing tea productivity are extension of tea growing areas as well as cultivation of the tea clones (BT clones) released by Bangladesh Tea Research Institute (BTRI). Till now BTRI released 23 clones and 5 biclones, having average per hectare yield of 3461.67 kg. In the world, tea production, consumption and exportation have increased significantly. Unlike world condition, there is a negative relation between tea production and export in Bangladesh. From 1980 to 2020 the quantity of tea exports was decreased by 92.99%. This situation emphasizes the need for exploring alternative means by the tea industries of increasing profits from tea cultivation and tea export. As a result, researches on tea varietal improvement is needed for rapid economic growth and development of tea industry as well as to encourage tea plantation business to go ahead with more production to meet our own demand along with quality tea to flourish tea business in Bangladesh

Tea and Tea Product Diversification: A Review

Tea is the most consumed drink after water as well as is one of the prevalent and the cheapest beverage which consumed globally. Tea is considered a healthy beverage due to the presence of several antioxidants and minerals such as potassium, magnesium, calcium & manganese. Different kinds of teas are manufactured in different countries based on taste, habit and culture of the people. Normally, tea can be categorized into three groups: green tea (unfermented), Oolong tea (partially fermented) and black tea (fully fermented) based on tea processing. Tea is a rich source of polyphenols and now-a-days interest in the possible health benefits of polyphenols, particularly flavonoids, has increased owing to their antioxidant and free-radical scavenging abilities. The rising demand of tea is considered one of the significant components for the worldwide beverage market growth. Tea industry makes a vital contribution to the economy of the respective tea producing countries like China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Kenya etc. At the present time with the rising demand of tea it is needed to emphasize for exploring alternative means of increasing profits from tea cultivation. The tea market price is low in Different countries like Srilanka, India, Bangladesh, Kenya etc. comprises with high cost of production. For this reason, there is no alternatives rather than product diversification of tea through value addition which can be an important approach to mitigate the impacts of low market price and high production costs. This review broadly focuses on the issues leading to the development of wide range of tea and tea product diversification. This paper is also associated health benefits with different types of tea, nutraceutical beverage, confectionary items, toiletries and cosmeceuticals which being commercialized in different parts of the world which are gaining consumer acceptance and also face the challenges of global marketing by tea industries that’s are described in this paper