The Norwegian Ambassador to India Nils Ragnar Kamsvag, accompanied by Udaya Sekhar Nagothu, Director, Centre For International Development of the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO) and Ragnar Vaga Pedersen, Director of Communications, NIBIO, along with a team of delegates visited Tocklai Tea Research Institute here on Wednesday.
Kamsvag, Nagatho and others in the team earlier in the day launched the collaborative project on climate resilient agriculture at Assam Agricultural University in Jorhat.
The project is a joint initiative of Assam Agricultural University (AAU) and the Norwegian Government. Apart from Assam, the project will also be implemented in Odisha.
Kamsvag had discussions with Tocklai scientists on wide range of topics that included climate change adaptation measures, role of shade trees in tea ecosystem, tea quality and different tea manufacturing methods, a press communique said.
A Tocklai official said that the Tea Research Association chairman, who is also the Tea Board chairman, PK Bezboruah, welcomed the Ambassador and led the interactive session.
The Director of TRA, Dr. AK Barooah, briefed the Ambassador on the century-old tea research institute and highlighted some of Tocklai’s current research and development initiatives, including thrust areas of research on climate change and adaptation measures for tea plantations of the State, the official stated.
A set of Tocklai publications on green technologies for sustainable tea production were also presented to the dignitaries.
Kamsvag visited the Model Tea Factory at Tocklai to witness the intricacies involved in the tea manufacturing process.
The communique said that the ambassador showed keen interest in the work done at Tocklai and actively participated in a tea tasting session.
The visit by the Norwegian Ambassador to Tocklai opens up scope for collaborative work with Norway on new frontiers of technology for the benefit of the tea sector, the communique further said.