Tea is a popular non-alcoholic beverage that maintains exclusivity as well as mass appeal for respite and relaxation. Tea is fast gaining importance for its health benefits as a nutraceutical. In addition to its global end-use, tea plantations as a whole are undergoing a transition towards mechanization, and agro-technolotgies for farm mechanization have been rationalized. With the advent of biotechnological approaches, management of genetic resources and plant improvement are evolving, both for improving productivity and quality under normal and stress environments. Tea manufacture is also undergoing process of transformation due to the advent of new machines with precise and controlled steps of manufacture. Pre-withering machine is a disruptive concept in tea processing and is highlighted in this book. Various diversified health care products e.g. theaflavins, polyphenols, theanines decaffeinated tea etc. are getting place in the market. Fast teas viz., Ready-to-Drink teas, tea concentrates, instant tea, tea based juices and tea wines are in queue for impacting the markets. In this book, effort has been made to bring together the latest advances on aspects of tea husbandry, physiology, biochemistry, manufacture and biotechnology to give a one stop exposition of status on Tea Technology to the reader.

Voices for Change: Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation in China

Environmentally Sustainable Development Studies and Monographs Series No. 19. Five years have passed since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, better known as the Rio Earth Summit. Almost all the countries of the world attended the conference and committed themselves to the policies and programs laid out in Agenda 21, the action plan of the summit. The World Bank and other international agencies have sought to be active partners in implementing the agenda. This report is part of the Bank's current efforts to review the progress made over the past five years and to make plans for improved effectiveness for the future. The paper is divided into two parts. Part I looks at the broad picture, assessing some of the large challenges for the future and outlining thematic principles. Part II provides concise reviews of the majority of the chapters of Agenda 21 and relates them to the standpoint of Bank activities.

This book considers research findings that can inform the practice of managing tea crops.