Better housing facilities for staff:
Plantation life changes over the years
A tea industry specialist with nearly half a century in the industry,
says Sri Lanka's formal plantation sector has come a long way from the
original British legacy.
Reggie Rajiah, a Fellow of Institute of Plantation Management (FIPM),
entered Sri Lanka's plantation sector in 1962.
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The newly
built houses for plantation workers. |
He has 45 years of experience in all aspects of the tea industry, as
a planter, broker, director and buyer in Sri Lanka and overseas.
Rajiah says plantation life in Sri Lanka's formal plantation sector
has improved from the viewpoint of social dignity, positively impacting
production and profitability.
He expressed these views following a recent tour of Regional
Plantation Company (RPC) estates across the country, with a team of
experienced planters, to select outstanding achievements in estates.
These achievements were based on criteria set by the Plantation Human
Development Trust (PHDT).
"Of course there is still much room for improvement but compared to
the conditions of life in the estates during even the late '80s, there
are tremendous changes in almost every aspect of life relating to human
development," Rajiah said.
For instance, the colourful, sari clad tea plucking ladies, symbolic
of Sri Lankan tea plantations, are seeing many improvements in their
lives due to PHDT interventions in RPC estates.
"Apart from her special skill in selecting tender shoots whilst
combing difficult terrain, in all types of weather, she is also expected
to clean, gather firewood, prepare meals, and bring up children, under
the most basic living conditions," Rajiah says.
"But today, with PHDT interventions in RPC estates, women's lives are
beginning to change because of improved family facilities at their
disposal and because they are being empowered with status and dignity,"
Rajiah said.
Through PHDT interventions, key areas of healthcare, child
development, settlement development, housing and social development,
have improved in many RPC estates.
For instance, Co-operative Societies assist workers with counselling
for alcoholism, household cash management, banking and savings, and
loans for livestock and other income-generating ventures, such as beauty
salons. Children of workers are also given financial assistance for
education, through these societies. The PHDT also spearheaded the
provision of housing amenities, solar electricity, hot water, factory
and field restrooms, elders' homes and also crematoriums in some
plantation districts in keeping with cultural requirements.
Today, even infants in RPC estates benefit from modern facilities.
Most of the Child Development Centres for the 0-5 age group in RPC
estates are custom-built, well equipped units, managed by qualified,
trained staff.
Access to modern medical facilities is saving lives.
Essential facilities like housing and water have also improved in RPC
estates.
"It is mostly the youth and young adults that are moving into new
utility housing, indicating that they have accepted the concept of
detached housing. Perhaps it will take longer for the older folk to
follow. But this again is a great improvement from before, when most
disputes on estates could have been attributed to lack of water and
leaking roofs, combined with inadequate housing," Rajiah said.
RPC estates have also implemented factory developments by adopting
modern, internationally accepted quality systems by way of ISO, HACCP,
health and safety measures and related certification.
These factory upgrades have boosted standards of manufacture and have
also encouraged worker participation because of cleaner, better
organised working conditions. These measures, including factory
restrooms, have improved the quality of Ceylon Tea by allowing better
timing of manufacture during critical periods of seasonal quality,
unique to this island.
In general work conditions in RPC estates have also changed, and for
the better. This is largely due to PHDT inputs empowering workers, and
thus enabling changes in management style.
Estate management is now consensus oriented and increasingly
recognises the dignity of workers.
This consultative approach, says Rajiah, is the way to enrich Ceylon
Tea, to further meet demands of 'Corporate Social Responsibility' of
which world consumers have become increasingly conscious.
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