Taiwan

Oolong tea plants that replaced larger trees in Alishanmay may have contributed to fatal mudslides as Typhoon Morakot dumped two meters of rain last August, according to researchers from Taipei universities.

Alishanmay oolong tea sells for up to US$160/lb in the US, but the newly-planted tea plants on the local hillsides replaced older growth that might have slowed down or prevented mudslides that devastated the area and killed many people.

"It’s too much for the land to take," said James Wang, a professor at the Graduate Institute of Environmental Education, National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, quoted by Bloomberg. "Our ecological system has collapsed."

 In addition to the devastating mudslides, local farmers are likely to suffer production losses of 30% or more of winter crops, according to Huang Shih-yu, executive manager of the farmers’ association at Meishan.

Over the last 10 years, the area under tea cultivation throughout Taiwan increased by 4.7%, according to Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture. But Alishan Township saw an increase of almost 16% during the same period.