Tea Research Association unveils 1st climate-smart tea seed stock

KOLKATA: The Tea Research Association (TRA Tocklai) held its 60th Annual General Meeting at a city club on Friday. The event was marked by significant milestones and discussions about the future of the Indian tea industry. Dhriti Banerjee, director of Zoological Survey of India was the chief guest at the event.

Banerjee spoke on restoring the biodiversity in the tea gardens of India. In her address, Nayantara Palchoudhuri, chairperson of TRA, highlighted the association’s commitment to advancing tea research and innovation. “This past year has been filled with both challenges in terms of reduced funding to TRA and climate change as we continue to uphold our mission for the betterment of the global tea industry,” she said. To combat the effects of climate change TRA Tocklai released the first climate-smart tea seed stock TSS 2. The new seed variety can withstand high temperatures and the new tea seed stock can produce high quality teas. This new seed stock will help the tea industry to prepare itself from the negative effects of climate change.

At the 60th annual general meeting, TRA unveiled microbial formulations developed with Varsha Biotech to reduce reliance on pesticides, which were approved by the Central Insecticides Board in July 2024.