Rainwater Conservation in the Bangladesh Tea Belt

Since 2014, our Bangladesh operations Duncan Brothers, have set in place a long-term project to establish irrigation systems for our tea gardens in the region. The goal is to construct reservoirs and dams to capture water that would otherwise be lost to flooding whilst ensuring no depletion to the surrounding soil, which is generally the issue during large excavation projects. These water conservation efforts have proven to be a huge success in irrigating the tea areas which is crucial to the survival of young tea through the long dry periods.

The expert knowledge of tea production from within the Duncan Brothers management team, coupled with support from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) has allowed the project to thrive.

In 2017 the project was extended to Allynugger, Nalua, Shumshernugger and Amo Tea Estates. This has resulted in increased sustainable irrigation coverage, reducing the dependence on deep tube-well’s for water supply.

Plans are already in place to further this successful venture throughout this year, with work already underway at our Chandpore Tea Estate. To date the rainwater in the Duncan Brothers dams and reservoirs has allowed 600Ha of the area to be irrigated.  

The tea gardens have now been managed through an extended dry season and with the wet season having fewer rains than normal, the irrigation systems continue to be needed. The processes created throughout the initial set up are now built-in to Duncan Brother’s production process and will be used for next year’s season, and with such unpredictable rains, we expect many more seasons to come.