[Business Letters]

Using mature tea leaves for compost

In Sri Lanka, we pride ourselves on the high production rate of tea. But we never think about using mature tea leaves for making compost fertilizer. We have many lands of tea where tea trees are relatively old, and require re-planting with new tea trees. What do we do with the old tea trees? Many planters throw them away which is like throwing money without using.

The recent research by many scholars have given ample evidence of the benefits of the compost tea fertilizer. What we need is a change in attitude in accepting and using modern technology.

The compost tea fertilizer made from tea leaves preserve the natural organisms friendly to other bio plants and give out a lot more nutrients to many kinds of plants. For example, it is highly efficient on all kinds of vegetables grown in the hill country.

Moreover, the compost fertilizer made from tea leaves fall under the category of organic fertilizer and therefore it will increase the quality of the vegetables and fruits, and hence the price in the world market.

The Government can save money by decreasing the amount of imports of the artificial fertilizer. Also compost tea fertilizer can be exported to various markets in the world.

Why use compost tea? It’s long been recognised by organic growers and researchers that the use of compost can help prevent some plant diseases.

So, it makes sense that liquids derived from compost could also have disease-suppressive characteristics.

Besides stimulating growth, compost and compost ‘juice’ can also help fight off diseases by inoculating plants with beneficial organisms.

Some of these good guys are bacteria and some are yeasts or fungi. These organisms are beneficial if they form a physical barrier against pathogens, or if they effectively compete with or attack the plant pathogens.

What is compost tea? Before going further, it’s important to explain what compost tea is, and what it isn’t. Compost tea is not the dark-colored solution that leaks out of the bottom of the compost pile.

That’s called leachate, and although it may contain soluble nutrients it may also contain organisms that can cause illness so it isn’t suitable for spraying on food crops.

Some people make compost tea to be the ‘extract’ of compost made by suspending compost in a barrel of water for a short period of time, usually in a burlap sack.

The resulting liquid can then be applied as a soil or foliar fertilizer. To others, it’s not compost tea until the extract is fermented or ‘brewed’ usually with some type of microbial nutrient source such as molasses, kelp, fish byproducts, and/or humic acids.

Compost teas can be prepared using either an aerated or a non-aerated brewing process. Aerating means introducing oxygen into the tea, by injecting air or by showering re-circulated tea through a porous bag of compost suspended over an open tank.

Non-aerated teas are made by simply mixing the compost, water, and other ingredients and allowing them to ferment with little or no disturbance. Both methods require a fermentation vessel, high-quality compost, water, incubation time, and filtration of the end product prior to foliar application through spray equipment.

It’s not clear whether it’s necessary to aerate during compost tea production. Aeration can speed up the production time, but it may also add to equipment cost and complexity. There are claims that aeration helps kill off the organisms that can cause illness. Very few studies have compared aerated and non-aerated compost teas.

I hope our politicians and authorities in the tea trade would pay serious attention to this matter.

Jay Deshabandu,
China.

Tourism as a thrust industry

We stakeholders in the tourism sector hailing from the Beruwela/Bentota area were shocked, when we saw in the newspapers a headline article titled “Tourism insignificant” the author of which is a very highly placed official in the Central Bank of Ceylon.

Whilst we appreciate that statistics may be used to justify opinions, it is sad that an official of the Central Bank who is responsible for advising and guiding the Government of Sri Lanka on policy matters relating to the economic development of a country should make such a drastic statement such as this while being totally aware that in real terms this would amount to misguiding the Government, the public and the international market community of the importance of tourism in Sri Lanka’s economic framework.

We need hardly add that the tourism sector which is the fourth highest foreign exchange earner to the country brought Rs. 43 billion last year. We are all aware that the potential of tourist earnings could be easily over a billion Dollars if normal circumstances prevailed.

More importantly however, is the fact that there are 60,000 Sri Lankans direct, and 180,000 indirect being employed in the Tourism Sector, and when multiplied by a factor of 5:1 is something like 960,000 people of the country who are dependents on tourism for their livelihood.

In addition to that there must be enormous amounts of foreign exchange being earned and remitted to this country by ex-employees of the tourism sector who are presently employed overseas.

The stakeholders in the tourism sector consisting of investors, hoteliers, trade union leaders, fish, meats, vegetable and other provision suppliers, shopkeepers, beach operators, beach vendors, taxi drivers, musicians and a host of others including representatives of the Pradeshiya Sabha, gathered at a meeting held at Riverina Hotel in Beruwela presided by Prof. M.T.A. Furkhan, Chairman of the Confifi Group of Hotels to discuss the implications of this unwarranted statement of the Central Bank which unfortunately has also left serious doubts in the minds of overseas tour operators about the seriousness of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry.

Practically every single speaker at the meeting condemned the irresponsible statement issued by the Central Bank and regretted the negative emphasis highlighted by the Central Bank statement which gives the wrong impression to both local and foreign stakeholders and the Sri Lankan community at large about the importance of tourism in Sri Lanka’s economy.

On behalf of ourselves and the nearly one million stakeholders in the tourist related activities in Sri Lanka, we wish to convey our sincere thanks to the President, Minister of Tourism, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and to the Chairman of the Tourist Board for all action taken in the recent weeks to extend a helping hand to the tourism sector which is presently in dire straits.

We also wish to extend our thanks to the Secretary to the Treasury, Dr. P.B. Jayasundera and his officials for the sympathy and the empathy shown to the tourism sector in the present state of affairs, and for the efforts taken to assist the industry in meaningful ways which once again confirms the importance of tourism for Sri Lanka’s economy.

The Stakeholders of the Beruwela/Bentota area also declared their sincere thanks to the Chairman of the Tourist Hotels Association and to the President of SLAITO for their efforts to present the dilemma of the tourism sector and to seek assistance from the Government.

We are also confident that the knowledgeable sector of the people of Sri Lanka whose enlightment is sufficiently high can fortunately be trusted upon to differentiate between what is common sense in economics and that which is uttered in unguarded moments of arrogance.

Tourism sector
stakeholders,
Beruwala.