Climate change fuels devastating pest outbreaks across tea gardens in bangladesh and india

Tea plantations across Bangladesh and India are facing an escalating crisis as climate change creates ideal conditions for destructive pest infestations. Extended summers, delayed monsoons, and warmer winters have triggered population explosions of insects that were barely noticeable in tea gardens just a decade ago.

Entomologists are documenting alarming increases in red spider mites, thrips, and the reemergence of devastating looper caterpillars that can strip tea plants bare. Additional pests now thriving include tea mosquito bugs, red coffee borers, green weevils, and red slug caterpillars—all taking advantage of the changing climate to establish themselves as major threats to tea production.

“Due to rising temperatures, pest infestation is increasing as well as pest status is changing,” warns Mohammad Shameem Al Mamun, principal scientific officer at Bangladesh Tea Research Institute’s Entomology Division. The data tells a stark story: while daytime temperatures in Bangladesh’s key tea-growing Sylhet region have remained relatively stable, nighttime temperatures have risen dramatically from 61°F to nearly 70°F between 2011 and 2024.

This warming trend is particularly concerning given that India ranks as the world’s second-largest tea producer. Tea plants are naturally vulnerable to insect attacks, but the rapid climate shift is overwhelming traditional pest management strategies. As these once-minor pests establish themselves as major agricultural threats, tea growers face mounting pressure to adapt their cultivation practices to a rapidly changing environmental reality.