Effect of the tree cutting session on the tea leaves yield in Burundi

Background: Tea crop provides a source of income for rural households and plays a prominent role in the Burundian economy. Objective: This paper aims to examine the effect of cutting session and tea complex on tea leaves yield in Burundi. Methodology: Data were gathered from Burundi Tea Board (OTB) and cover the period from 1995 to 2022. Dependent variable was the yield of green leaves (in tons) in the industrial block and explanatory variables were cutting session and tea complex. A Bayesian two-way analysis of variance was performed as an alternative to traditional approach. The process used 400,000 Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) iterations and Gibbs sampling algorithm. Data processing and analysis were performed using R software, version 4.4.0. Results: The higher mean tea yield was observed in Rwegura complex and the seventh cutting session. Based on credible intervals, there was however a significant effect of cutting session and tea complex on the tea yield. Conclusion: Cutting session and tea complex influence significantly the tea yield. This study could serve as a baseline for researchers, tea growers themselves and decision-makers who are responsible for agriculture to know the periods of breakage in tea yield and identify other factors that could explain tea yield. This study shows that the tea plant does not age and that cutting session can even go on for more than 4 years, as the overall trend has shown that yield continues to increase from the first year of cutting session to the fourth year. This recommendation is addressed to Burundi Agronomic Sciences Institute (ISABU) which is responsible for crop research.