Pradip K.Yadav¹, Krishna P. Paudyal² and Ram C. Adhikari³

Abstract

Tea is one of the exportable commodities of Nepal. Tea cultivation is a labour intensive agri-business and plays a multi dimensional role in income generation, fostering industrial and environmental protection. It is estimated that about 70 thousand people are employed and 9 thousand families are involved in tea industry in which 60% are women. It contributes more than 0.14% to AGDP. The production and area under tea plantation are in increasing trend. Although high numbers of private and public organizations are involved in tea industry. Nepalese tea industry is running in much slower pace compared to its competitors. The demand of tea is burgeoning worldwide due to its non-alcoholic and medicinal value. Although, the tea industry posses a bright scope in uplifting economic condition of people and nation. But the R&D policy and program implementation modality of tea industry needs restructuring for improvement of production, productivity and quality tea to compete fast changing global market. National Tea Research Institute (NTRI) needs to be set up for high quality tea production in sustainable way. This paper focuses on various existing issues on tea R&D and highlights some new thoughts for exploiting its full potentiality for economic growth of the nation and improving living standard of rural people.