The Nepal Tea Policy 2000 was approved by the government last week. The policy envisages expanding the area under tea cultivation to 40,800 hectares in the next five years. The government hopes the new policy will increase production of Nepali tea to 6.1 million kg annually by 2010, with hill tea constituting 65 percent of the total output.

Other provisions of the policy include low interest loans for producers and bank loans covering up to 80 percent of the project costs of firms setting up processing plants. The government also plans to identify fallow land in tea cultivation zones and lease them for up to 50 years to private growers for tea cultivation.