The Journey of Darjeeling Tea Gardens Over Decades in the Eyes of the Satellite

Abstract

Darjeeling tea is one of the world’s famous agro-products of India, which earned its’ huge mercantile prospect in the global agricultural world. Darjeeling Tea serves as an ecological indicator, and it is India’s first GI tagged product. The geographical features like altitude, rainfall, sunshine, and mist, coupled with the exquisite processing techniques, contribute to the idiosyncratic flavour of this tea. Darjeeling tea accounts for more than 50% of the tea economy of India with its’ exquisite aroma and palatable taste. We have analysed the productivity of the Darjeeling tea gardens over the last three decades. We have investigated several remotely sensed datasets spanning over more than 50 tea gardens to assess the changing health conditions of the tea gardens of Darjeeling over the last three decades. Results show a steady decline in tea production since the year 1989. We computed several indices derived from satellite images and used various classification methods to carry out the present study. These indices enabled us to identify the degradation of the health of the tea gardens, particularly in the piedmont region. An in-depth assessment of ecosystem services of the Darjeeling tea, along with tea-trade, tea-related eco-tourism, and livelihood of more than a million tea workers in the time of climate change, is envisaged to be essential for sustainable management for this exclusive GI tagged product of Darjeeling, India.