RPCs show higher productivity
The Planters Association (PA) says Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs)
show consistently high productivity in tea cultivation. In a press
statement, the PA noted that based on national statistics, yields and
re-planting rates are higher within the RPC sector than the
smallholdings sector in tea cultivation. This is despite a sharp
increase in production costs due to wage increases and difficult weather
conditions.
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Tea smallholdings are cultivated as
family-owned business ventures Picture by Devaka
Senevirathne |
The Sri Lanka Tea Board statistical booklet 2009 shows a yield of
1,762 kgs per hectare, for high grown tea in 2009. A majority of land
cultivated for high grown tea (86 percent) is under RPC control, with
RPC tea plantations accounting for 35,432 hectares, out of the 41,137
hectares, of high grown tea land in the country. The land management of
low grown tea cultivation on the other hand, is the opposite, with
smallholdings accounting for the majority share. Almost 87 percent of
the low grown tea land area is under smallholder management. However,
according to the statistics of the Sri Lanka Tea Board for 2009, the
yield from low grown tea was 1,576 kgs per hectare, which are lower then
the high grown tea yield.
"The data on yields, from high grown and low grown tea cultivations,
show that the yield is higher in RPC managed tea lands than in small
holdings", said PA Deputy Chairman Roshan Rajadurai.
However, the PA notes that tea cultivation in the low country has the
potential for higher labour productivity than RPC managed estates in the
up country. Smallholdings are cultivated as family owned business
ventures. This results in smallholding families themselves doing some of
the work, which keeps labour costs low and also allows for greater
interest in gaining higher yields. Labour, when hired from outside, is
paid on the number of kilos of tea plucked by the worker. Since the
workers do not get a fixed minimum daily wage, or other benefits such as
EPF and ETF, they work harder to maximise their incomes. The PA notes
that this combination of hired labour and family ownership should help
increase productivity in the low grown tea sector.
"Low grown tea lands should show higher productivity because they
work their own fields. When they hire outside workers, these workers are
not paid other benefits.
They are paid strictly on how many kilos they pluck. So the workers
also work harder to improve their incomes. This is not the case with
workers in RPC estates. In RPCs workers are paid a minimum wage and have
many other attendant benefits, irrespective of their level of
productivity. This situation in low grown areas should also contribute
towards higher yields, than from RPCs," said Mr Rajadurai.
Land productivity is also affected by weather patterns, say the PA.
Lowlands are generally seen to have more conducive weather all year
round, than high grown tea plantations.
"Low grown areas have better distributed rainfall and better climatic
conditions for crop growth throughout the year than lands in high
elevation. This is seen in most countries. So again the yield should be
higher from the low grown estates compared to the highlands," said
Rajadurai.
The PA says replanting rates among RPCs is also higher than among the
smallholdings, contrary to popular belief.
According to statistics from the Plantation Industries Ministry from
1995, after privatisation of estates, upto 2008, tea smallholdings
replanted 6 percent, or 8,084 hectares, out of their land area. The RPCs
on the other hand, replanted 9 percent, or 7,406 hectares, of tea
holdings under their management during the same period. New planting
rates on the other hand, are higher in the tea smallholding sector with
3,137 hectares of new planting compared to 68 hectares of new planting
in RPC tea lands.
The PA maintains that the RPCs are committed towards increasing
replanting levels and improving productivity of their estates despite
the many drawbacks related to agronomic factors including land
suitability and adequacy of recommended planting materials, shortage of
labour, adverse impact on National production and quality of Ceylon tea
and most importantly, financial constraints faced by them.
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