Adapting to Climate Change: Challenges for Uji Tea Cultivation

Abstract

Rapid changes in the climatic conditions have becoming more evident with increasing degree of its intensity and extremities. Direct effects of these changes are felt by agriculture industries especially those which are utilizing terroir elements, environmental of a certain area and its human interaction such as the tea cultivation industry in Uji Area. While tea plant itself is sensitive towards changes in the microclimatic conditions, the changes have also affected terroir elements of Uji Area such as climatic and by soil factor. As the oldest and most famous green tea producing region in Japan, Uji Tea reputation have been built through its terroir characteristic and their long-running traditional agriculture knowledge. Changes in the climatic conditions have altered bud break timing thus changed the harvest timing. Beside changes in the tea plant response, damages caused by frost, drought, heavy rain and temperature extremities have directly affected the quality and quantity of the tea production. Observation and surveys conducted in Uji showed that these changes are not only affecting cultivation process, but also indirectly leading to socioeconomic issues in the tea farmer community. It is necessary to utilize cultivation process based on climate change adaptation framework that enable Uji tea farmers to pro-actively adapt with the ongoing changes which will ensure the sustainability of Uji area as a tea-growing region.