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Tea production in Kerala has increased 8.29 per cent in the first half of the current calendar year.
The State produced 24.8 million kg (mkg) from January to May. Last year, drought and failure of monsoon affected production, the Association of Planters of Kerala, said in its annual 2012-13 report.
Failure of the South-West and North-East monsoons in Kerala resulted in production declining by 8.3 per cent to 63.1 mkg compared with 2011.
The prolonged drought in all the planting districts also led to the drop, the report said.
The industry also focused on replanting and new clearing in 2012 in a big way.
The central Travancore plantation districts have taken up replanting on 198 hectares.
Of this, Kanan Devan Hills carried out replanting on 112 hectares and six hectares in Wayanad during the year.
The area under cultivation in Kerala is stagnant at 37,137 hectares last year.
However, there was an encouraging increase in yield.
The per hectare productivity increased to 2,239 kg from 2,151 kg in the previous year.
Even though the prices remain buoyant, the industry witnessed shrinking of margins due to increase in cost of inputs such as fertilisers, fuel and labour wages.
Shortage of fertilisers may detrimentally affect the production, if immediate remedial measures are not taken, the APK report said.
Meanwhile, the rubber production continued to increase for the fourth consecutive year, touching 9,14,000 tonnes, a three per cent increase in the same period last year.
The area under rubber is 5.34 lakh hectares against a total area of 7.11 lakh hectares in the country. There has been a significant increase in area in non-traditional areas.
On coffee, the APK report said that the actual quantum of exports showed a decline of 10.7 per cent at 3.07 lakh tonnes even though the value of exports surged by 3.1 per cent at Rs 4,686.85 crore in 2012-13.
It put domestic coffee production at 3.15 lakh tonnes, more or less stagnant compared with last year.
Low productivity, limited mechanisation, pest and disease infestation and labour shortage continue to trouble the coffee cultivation in Kerala.
Due to the drought conditions and poor rainfall throughout the season last year, production in cardamom declined but was to some extent neutralised due to higher area, especially homestead gardens.
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