Kalutara gets new tea planting nursery

Irangika RANGE

The Government will set up a 2.5 acre new tea planting nursery in the Kalutara District and a scheme to distribute around 200,000 high quality tea plants annually among tea smallholders.

Plantation Industries Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said that the new tea planting nursery would be administrated by the Tea Research Institute. The Tea Small Holding Development Authority would help tea smallholders grow high quality tea in an effective manner.

The nursery would be established in Hedigalla, Palinda Nuwara in Kalutara which would be beneficial for over 38,000 tea smallholders in the respective area.

The Minister said there had been no tea planting nursery before this to cater to the demand of tea plants by tea smallholders in the district. Therefore, tea smallholders had faced greater hardships in finding and purchasing good quality tea plants.

They had even travelled to Pelmadulla and Ratnapura to purchase good quality tea plants.