Census on tea smallholders

The Tea Small Holdings Development Authority (TSHDA) conducts a census on tea smallholders in Sri Lanka through its regional offices as a first step to ensure proper utilisation of the facilities to provide them maximum benefits.

An official of the TSHDA said that the Sri Lanka Tea Board had conducted the last census in 1994 and there was no proper recording system of tea smallholders during last ten years. "The Authority implement this census with the assistance of The Department of Census and Statistics and the Department of Agrarian Services while the Asian Development Bank provides financial support."

She said that the major target of this census is to obtain correct information of tea smallholders in Sri Lanka because the Authority has planned to implement development programs to promote the sector. "A fertiliser subsidy scheme, which was started in 1991 for tea smallholders, is in progress successfully. We expect to recognise tea smallholders in Sri Lanka to provide loan facilities to promote their business," she said.

"According to the previous statistics there were around 250,000 tea smallholders in the country," she said.