The combined populations of Bangladesh and Nigeria, along with Nigerian tea innovation and Bangaldeshi tea culture make the commodity a potential economic boom for both countries, says Bangladeshi high commissioner to Nigeria, MasudurRahman.
“You can see openings for synergy between Bangladesh and Nigeria,” he said in an exclusive interview, noting the population of both countries.
“Put together, you can see the huge market that tea could enjoy.”
The High Commissioner spoke recently in an exclusive interview with the publisher of The Commerce Africa Magazine, Mr Babajide Iletogun.
Read the full interview below.
May we meet you, Your Excellency?
I want to welcome you to the Bangladesh High Commission and express our gratitude to you for choosing to interview me. Nigeria is my first appointment as High Commissioner. It is a place that I will fondly remember long after I leave Nigeria. It is a place that will remain in my memory forever because of the hospitality that Nigerians have extended to me.
Give us a sense of the evolution of the tea sector in Bangladesh.
It is a relevant story for Nigeria because Bangladesh and Nigeria are members of the Commonwealth with the same colonial experience. Bangladesh tea experience and cultivation date back to the colonial period. Around 1840s, tea was brought and introduced to our country’s tea districts in the hilly areas of the northeast, northwest and some areas in southeast. You recall that China is the evolution point of tea. The British empire and their rulers were involved in tea plantation. The rich blend of teas was sent to the UK for consumption. The early expansion of tea production was under the British companies. But gradually, Bangladesh became independent in 1971 and later private sector became involved. Today, there are many private entities involved in tea industry.
We have a rich heritage of tea culture in our country. In fact, tea has become ingrained in Bangladeshi history.
What specific ecological advantages or infrastructural incentives favour the tea industry in Bangladesh and how would you compare them with your knowledge of same in Nigeria?
Tea growing is dependent upon certain topography. The soil should be well drained and not hold water. Of course, there must be adequate rainfall, but the soil must be on a slanting surface, a lot of humidity and rainfall.
Bangladesh is largely located on flat ground. The north-eastern districts are quite conducive for tea cultivation and some other locations too.
In Nigeria, there are some places like Taraba, some outskirts of Abuja and other northern areas, even some areas in the southeast and southwest have similar topography that could be favourable for tea cultivation. Therefore, tea cultivation by now ought to be on a higher scale than what it is. Although, it is evolving. Apart from good varieties of tea cultivation in Nigeria, we are seeing diversification of tea culture. We notice that Nigeria is rich in herbs and spices. Even ginger. Those are vital for diversifying tea products. We even observed that teas are being transformed into medicine.
In Bangladesh, we have different varieties of teas.
You can see openings for synergy between Bangladesh and Nigeria. Bangladesh has about 70 million people, while Nigeria boasts about 230 million. Put together, you can see the huge market that tea could enjoy.
Again, it will interest you to note that Bangladesh tea plantation areas serve as the country’s best resorts which can earn foreign exchange for the country. Here, a symbiosis can be forged between ecology and nature. That is, while exploring the ecology for agricultural production, it could also serve as a way of protecting the environment when it serves tourism purposes. So, there can be a perfect balance between ecology and industry.
Scientifically, tea is camellia sinesis. Is that true of the tea in Bangladesh ?
Tea leaves in Bangladesh are processed mainly in two formats. One is by fermentation and distillation process. Another is that they are researched through stem cell regeneration and innovation that gives different varieties of tea leaves and tea plant which are central not only in the production of tea leaves but also in terms of its taste, smell, colour.
Having said that, Nigeria has different varieties of herbs which are grown from pristine and fertile land. We recognized that Nigeria’s ginger is one of the best. In fact, tea can be elevated to be a cuisine. It has a recipe to it. That means you can go beyond the industrial tea production. You create your own tea through your own recipe.
I have seen that in Nigeria, there are a lot of tea brands capitalizing on the psychology of human behaviour for preferences. They vary in terms of colour, which is happening everywhere, because knowledge is not fixed to one place. Especially in this age of internet, what is important is some know-how and skill set that people have over decades.
In Bangladesh, you will see that the tea planters and farmers are mostly women. That is a way of employing women. In any case, the tea planters are not all from Bangladesh. Their generation come from the north, in some of the Indian estates. Remember how I talked about the British involvement in tea cultivation and taking cues from the Chinese experience. Bangladesh, indeed, has a rich tea heritage.
Interestingly, this tea culture in Bangladesh is not known to the world because in today’s Bangladesh with 170million people, tea is consumed every day. Almost twice in a day. In fact, Bangladesh is the ninth largest consumer of tea.
After the liberation of the country in 1971, we have a sizable share of the market, 1.5% of the world market. It has come down, which is natural. Nevertheless, there is ample room for collaboration with Nigeria in research that will result into a more efficient tea production for the two countries and even expand to global supply and enhanced value chain. Ultimately, this collaboration can bring about not just closer cooperation between the two countries but the people.
I salute the Nigerian government for undertaking to host the tea festival at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
What is the contribution of the tea sector to the economy of Bangladesh?
The tea sector does contribute significantly to GDP because it is subsumed under the agricultural sector which contributes about 36%. When we became independent in 1971, agriculture contributed about 84% to the country’s GDP but now we have progressed to an industrial-based economy. Given that scenario, we are the second or third largest producer of rice after China. Capitalizing on our huge 170 million population, we have increased our production by about five times within the given period, that is between 1971 and now.
What major strategies did Bangladesh government implemented to shore up tea production in the last decade that you commend for Nigerian government to help small holder tea farmers?
In Bangladesh, we have Tea Research Institute that has undertaken major research has led to about 1.5 times the scale of production within the last decade and these are organically cultivated, not GMO.
We also have the National Tea Board and Tea Associations, several of them. Our government is disposed to boosting tea production and entering partnership with other jurisdictions to achieve the same goal.
You may wish to be reminded that we do not export much of our tea. Much of what we produce is consumed within the country. But we do export high quality tea, higher prized and delicately manufactured.
Have you seen any prospects for the growth of tea industry in Nigeria especially as our government seeks to exploit the non-oil resources in our economy?
This is the first international tea event in the country. But what we have witnessed is that people have embraced the tea culture, which is the most important development. Undoubtedly, Nigeria has so many things going for her to achieve enhanced tea production. Talk of the topography, climate conditions, soil conditions and the size of the market.
As I said, much of the tea plantation sites can also serve as tourist resorts.
In my opinion, there is huge opportunity for tea cultivation and production across the different ecological areas in the country.
How would you describe the Bangladesh/Nigeria bilateral relations?
Bangladeshi and Nigerian bilateral relations is rooted in our friendship, understanding, commitment and engagement in international affairs and relations in the first place. We are shoulder to shoulder, sharing our identical views and commitment for international peace, solidarity and stability, from UN peacekeeping to combating terrorism and poverty, inequality and so on.
We have similar heritage. Again, we have synergic demographic dividend and huge population. We have similar cultures including our cuisines. We both love music and are humorous.
We have not forged sufficient synergy in our movie sector yet. Both countries are very much into artistic expression.
It is important to have public-to-public diplomatic opportunities and collaboration. We can virtually collaborate on all facets of endeavours beyond defence to include education and research opportunities and all.
We are both active members of Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), in the Nonaligned Movement, Developing Aid, in the Group of 77 countries, in the Commonwealth and in the realm of UN agencies and its affiliates.
Our diplomats are properly acquainted with each other. Indeed, there is close affinity between the two countries.
What specific areas of cooperation are your High Commission engaged in with Nigeria?
We are engaged with deepening our collaboration in textiles, garments, pharmaceuticals, ICT, e-commerce, telemedicine, academics. We can collaborate in agro processing ventures. We are very much into jute, which is an area for productive collaboration. In fact, jute is the golden crop that gave Bangladesh a head start after independence.
Both countries are diversifying their economies, and this makes it auspicious for closer cooperation. Nigeria is leading Africa’s developing economy. Nigeria is leading, in my opinion.
With the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria appears set for a major turnaround. The economy is on bounce back mode. Foreign currency reserves have stepped up to the $40 billion mark and there is no sign of receding as the country is becoming dependent on fossil fuel refined locally on the nation’s soil. Import requirements for fossil fuels will reduce and the country can focus more on imports of capital machinery and technology materials. Already, we have seen some moves of reassembly plants of electronic goods companies. This is like what we did a decade or two ago. We have all our electronic goods produced in Bangladesh if not all, but at least 60% come from local companies.
Much of our pharmaceutical requirements are met by Bangladeshi companies. Same thing will be falling out in Nigeria. This, indeed, is the time for the two countries to strengthen their bilateral relations.
