Cloned plant may put the flavour back in weak Bangladeshi tea exports

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2005

DHAKA (AFP) — Bangladeshi researchers said that they had cloned a high-yielding tea plant that could double the country's production in a decade and help reclaim its position as a leading tea exporter.

"After eight years of trials, we have developed a cloned plant called the BT-16 species that yields 3,100 kilograms of tea per hectare (2.5 acres), two-and-a-half times the present yield rate," the head of the Bangladesh Tea Research Institute, M. Shahiduzzman, told AFP.

"The BT-16 clone will be a big boost to tea production in Bangladesh as we expect most tea gardens to plant it on 50 percent of their land," he said.

The plant was cloned using a variety of tea originally imported from India.

"In a decade's time, this cloned tea plant will help boost...