Agriculture and Agribusiness

Tea Production and Estate Management

Tea is plucked every seven to fourteen days for decades from the same bushes, which makes the plucking table and the labour organised around it the two things that decide an estate's output. This course works from both. Delegates work through field establishment, clonal selection and the formative pruning that builds a frame capable of carrying a crop. Plucking is addressed in detail: round length, standard, fine plucking against coarse, and the effect on made tea quality and price. Labour organisation, task rates and mechanisation are covered, since plucking is the largest cost. Pruning cycles and the yield trough that follows are addressed. Nutrition and soil acidity follow. Pest and disease management is covered. Green leaf handling and transport to the factory are addressed, since leaf deteriorates within hours. Processing is covered at the level an estate manager needs: withering, maceration, fermentation, firing and grading. The course closes on yield per hectare, on cost per kilogram made tea and on quality feedback from the sale.