Sri Lanka tea seen threatened by climate change

Sept 09, 2011 (LBO) - Climate change brought about by global warming could threaten the famed quality of Sri Lanka's tea, the island's main agriculture export and its best known brand, a new report said.







"Could this be the beginning of a shift in the global tea cultivation map?

" the brokers asked. "The impact of climate change seems to be drastically altering weather patterns, not only in Sri Lanka, but throughout the world," John Keells brokers said in a report.

"We have seen floods and severe droughts which has caused extensive damage to agricultural outputs in many countries including Sri Lanka."

"The monsoons in Sri Lanka can no longer be predicted accurately, and the two quality seasons we enjoy have not brought about good seasonal quality, for a few years," John Keells said.

The brokers said the rise in temperature has given way to much hotter weather conditions.

"The warmer weather, Sri Lanka has experienced this year at higher elevations could be a significant factor for the increase in tea production from these elevations, despite an overall drop in Sri Lanka's tea crop," they said in a report.

"It has perhaps also constrained the level of quality, and the high quali