Pussellawa Plantations wins Plantation Awards
Pussellawa Plantations Ltd, one of the Free Lanka Capital Holdings'
business ventures, clinched two awards at the National Plantations
Awards 2012 ceremony, held at Temple Trees recently.
The event was organized by the Ministry of Plantations Industries .
President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the chief guest.
Pussellawa Plantations Ltd was declared winner under the category of
"Highest Rate of Replanting (rubber) in RPC ( Regional Plantations
Company) and also for achieving the Highest Crop Productivity (rubber)
in RPC Sector."
Commenting on what contributed towards this achievement, a top
company spokesperson said, the company's attitude towards exploring and
using innovative techniques in cultivation, the increase in the crop
intake by adopting new techniques such as rain guarding , eliminating
negative impact of rain interference during the time of tapping, new
systems highly recommended by the Rubber Research Institute (RRI) such
as low frequency tapping adopted by Pussellawa Plantations Ltd were
major factors. Additionally, they expect their yields to go up further
especially, with new areas being allocated for production in the years
ahead.
Large extents replanted, commenced in 2005, and new high yielding
clones developed by RRI have been used to re-plant along with new
methods of cultivation of rubber were also noteworthy. In 2011 - 1,950
hectares were under immaturity planted since 2005 which works out to
almost 40 % of the extent under rubber at Pussellawa Plantations. As a
result of the extensive re-planting programme done, the projections made
reveal that by 2020, the yield per hectare (YPH) of this company will be
reaching 1,550 level.
The plantations were the primary areas of business that brought Free
Lanka Capital Holdings into the limelight in the very early years of
establishment.
The two plantation companies namely, Pussellawa Plantations Ltd and
Maturata Plantations Ltd, are two of the largest tea producing companies
in Sri Lanka and are world renowned for the superior quality tea and
rubber. The history of Pussellawa and Maturata Plantations date back to
the 1840's.
Pussellawa Plantations Ltd comprises of 11 Tea Estates that include
two green tea factories, 9 rubber estates and 4 tea cum rubber estates
of which a significant acreage also accommodate the cultivation of
rubber, coconut and spices.
These estates are located in Pussellawa, Udupussellawa, Nuwara Eliya,
Kandy, Ruhuna and Sabaragamuwa tea growing areas covering finest tea
growing regions of the country and popularly referred to as the 'premium
valley of Ceylon Tea' and the 'heartland of Ceylon Tea'.
"Premium Valley of Ceylon Tea" covers the estates Hellbodde, Delta,
Rothschild, Mooloya, Geragama, Pambegama and Keragala coming under
Pussellawa Plantations Ltd and "Heartland of Ceylon Tea" covers the
estates High Forest, Liddesdale, Ragalla, Alma, Gonapitiya, Ensalwatte,
Diddenipotha, Anningkanda & Hayes.
Meanwhile, Pussellawa plantations' total bought crop of Tea from mid
country and low country estates during 2010 stood at 3,173,448 kgs. |