Uganda’s tea production is forecast to drop 8 percent this year, depressed by a severe drought in parts of the country, an industry official told Reuters on Thursday.The crop is a key commodity export for the east African country alongside coffee and tobacco and an important earner of hard currency.George Ssekitoleko, secretary general of Ugandan Tea Association, told Reuters that Uganda would likely produce an estimated 52,000 tonnes of tea, down from 2011’s 56,000.“There was a severe drought in tea-growing areas around January to March which made leaves wither and dry prematurely,” Ssekitoleko said.“We might get good rains toward the end of this year but probably not enough to offset the loss from the drought,” he said.Uganda’s tea is grown mostly in the central and south western regions. The majority of leaves, produced on around 25,000 hectares of land, are sold at Kenya’s Mombasa tea auction. Progressive shifts in traditional weather patterns have seen rains in Uganda become increasingly erratic and scarce, exacting a heavy toll on the country’s mostly rain-fed agriculture.Ssekitoleko said fewer farmers were applying fertiliser in their fields, which had affected output.“Fertiliser is too expensive for farmers so most of them don’t apply it and those who use it don’t apply it in sufficient quantities and that lowers yields,” he said.Uganda earned about $90 million from tea exports in 2011, according to Ssekitoleko, and the sector employs about 50,000 people directly while supporting more than 600,000 others.
