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Mauritius Tea
As part of its agricultural diversification efforts,
the
government supported the large-scale production of tea in
the
late 1960s. Second to sugar in exports, tea covered 2,870
hectares in 1991. The Tea Development Authority (TDA)
owned and
managed three-fourths of this land, which it leased to
tenant
growers. Although tea thrives on the island's higher
elevations,
production has been hindered by high costs, including
labor, and
fluctuations in world prices. Since 1986 the government
has
subsidized tea production to compensate for low prices. In
the
same year, it established the Mauritius Tea Factories
Company to
manage four factories that had been run by the TDA.
Tea production reached 8,115 tons in 1985, its highest
level,
only to decline steadily to 5,918 tons in 1991. Export
earnings
have declined from MauR104 million in 1986 to MauR83
million in
1991. The government is considering other uses for its
teaplanted land in the face of continuing economic pressures.
Data as of August 1994
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