Enjoying the natural advantage of abundant rainfall and fertile soil, Meghalaya is not only slowly catching up with Assam and Darjeeling in tea output, but has also started production of high quality organic tea.

Though tea planters had identified the favourable conditions in the region almost two centuries ago, tea cultivation was never taken up seriously by successive administrations.

A prospecting party sent by the British East India Company to the region in the first half of the 19th century had called for vigorous tea cultivation, but sadly the advice was not acted upon.

A visit to Meghalaya by the Tea Board of India in 1974 changed the situation.

During the visit, the Tea Board delegation reported that the potential for tea cultivation was “immense” and suggested transplantation of tea varieties from Assam and Darjeeling in the State.

Accordingly, the varieties brought from the two areas were transplanted in experimental gardens at Umsning in Ri-Bhoi district, Tebronggre in West Garo Hills district and at Riangdo in West Khasi Hills district.

The quality and yield of tea in these experimental gardens prompted the State Government to incentivise commercial cultivation of tea in private farmers’ farmlands, tea experts in the State said.

Now Meghalaya tea has earned a name for itself in the national and international markets for possessing superior quality, rich fragrance and good liquor.

State Horticulture officer M. Lyngdoh said the Government had prioritised production of organic tea in an effort to aggressively penetrate that segment in markets, national and international.

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