Dhankuta, February 25

National Agriculture Research Council has started testing the quality of tea produced in Pakhribas, Dhankuta, with a view to introducing it in the international market within five years.

National Agriculture Research Council has started testing the tea by establishing its office in Pakhribas Municipality.

Assistant Chief at the office Mahendra Prasad Yadav said that they had set up electronic dryer and rolling machine and started testing the quality of orthodox tea. “We require some experts to ensure the quality of Nepal’s orthodox tea,” he said. He informed that Nepali tea would be introduced in the world market after the research and quality test concluded.

NARC has a quota of 16 experts. As many as seven experts have been carrying out quality tests of the orthodox tea produced in Dhankuta while three experts have been working in Ilam. Yadav said the experts were busy testing CTC Tea produced in Jhapa.

Nepal’s orthodox tea has recently received the international trademark to export it to the international market with its own identity. Nepal has received the trademark with the long-standing efforts of the Nepal Tea and Coffee Development Board, organisations associated with tea production, and experts of the field

Tea and Coffee Board of Hile stated that Nepal had been exporting tea with the logo and trademark of Darjeeling and Tibet till date.

According to the board, tea is being cultivated in 514 hectare land in Dhankuta alone and tea cultivation had spread over 14,732 hectare land in Jhapa, Ilam, Panchthar, Dhankuta and Tehrathum districts.