The Tea Board has sought the help of Indian Space Research Organization to track the progress of replantation of tea bushes with the help of remote-sensing satellite.

The Tea Board has set up a special purpose tea fund of Rs 4,761 crore (Rs 47.61 billion) to rejuvenate the the tea industry by replacing old tea bushes with new ones.

According to the Tea Board, 38 per cent of all tea bushes in the country have crossed the age of 50 years, while another 9 per cent are in the age group of 40-50 years. With ageing, the productivity of these bushes has declined.

Remote-sensing images will help the board to verify the replantation and growth of tea bushes, saving man-hours that would have been requierd for physical verification at the ground level. The images will be used to build a database of tea gardens in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The Tea Board plans to undertake massive replantation covering 1,925 hectares. It has signed 82 loan agreements worth Rs 24 crore (Rs 240 million), involving 24 tea companies to undertake the replantation work.

A total of 130 companies running 262 gardens covering 7637ha have applied for loans worth Rs 109 crore (Rs 1.09 billion).

The tea industry had witnessed a long recession since mid-1999. The industry had touched a peak of Rs 76 per kg in 1998, following which the national average auction prices had fallen to as low Rs 56 during 2002 and 2003.