REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SOLO - Indonesian tea production was decreasing as several tea plantations were converted into vegetable and rubber plantations, the Chairman of Indonesian Tea Board, Rachmat Badruddin, said. Ten years ago, Indonesia sat on five biggest countries which produced tea. 

"Indonesian now sits on number seven after Vietnam and Turkey," he said on Friday.

For the last ten years, about 30,000 hectare of tea plantation has been converted. Indonesia currently has 120,000 hectare of tea plantation in Java Island and Sumatera. It produces 130 tonnes per year.

"Most of them are managed by state-owned and private companies," he explained on the sidelines of Solo International Tea Festival. Only few hectares are managed by people.

Badruddin said that World Health Organization gave 1.2 million USD to Indonesian Tea Board to resurrect people's tea plantation. The fund is used to develop 800 hectare of tea plantation in West Java.

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