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Gone are the days when the "Pukka Sahibs" of the estate companies, who dressed up for dinner, represented Sri Lanka's tea industry. The stars of today are an entirely different kettle of fish. They are the humble sarong -clad villagers of the Southern Province, who cultivate tea on small plots of land with family labour.

The island's 206,652 smallholders have only 76,570 hectares or 42% of the tea land, but they account for 58% of the national production of 306 million kgs, says "Tea Review-2001".

The Southern Province is the stronghold of the small scale sector, which would come as a surprise to many non-Sri Lankans who instinctively associate tea only with the picturesque and salubrious central highlands.

According to "Tea Review - 2001" Sri Lanka's tea production increased from 248 million kgs in the 1990s to 306 million kgs in 2000 and this increase was primarily due to the "outstanding" contribution made by the small tea growers.

The small growers' plots have been seeing a remarkable rise in the yield, the review says. The yield had jumped from 1,450 kgs per hectare in the mid nineties to about 2,216 kgs per hectare in 2000, which is nearly double that in the "estate" sector.

The prime reason for this "splendid" performance is the higher use of high yielding , vegetatively propagated (VP) tea to seedling tea, as against about 45% in the estate sector. "But a more significant reason is probably the intensive husbanding and personal attention that the small grower gives to the crop," the review says.

The Tea Smal Holdings Development Authority (TSDA) has played a vital role in the success story. TSDA provides assistance for replanting, infilling, fertiliser application and planting material supply. The Smallholder Tea Development Project (STDP) provides bank loans for re-planting, nursery development and tea factory development.

There is also a special insurance, savings and investment scheme known as "Tea Shakthi" which was introduced in 1997.By the end of 2000 the membership of the Tea Shakthi scheme had increased to 138,000 and the total savings had gone up to Rs.100 milliom. Out of that, Rs. 87 million was spent on building Tea Shakthi factories.

Under the scheme, good performers are given insurance coverage free. Under the insurance scheme, Rs. 100,000 is paid in the case of death in accidents, Rs. 50,000 in the case of total disability and Rs. 200,000 for a special surgery.

The development and welfare program had to have external financial support. The main donor supported projects are: the Plantation Reform Project (Rs. 10 billion), Tea Development Project (Rs. 4.2 billion) and Plantation Development Support Program (Rs. 2.6 billion). 

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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