'Formation of Colombo Tea Traders' Assn, a long felt need'
Over 4.3 million of a total population of 22 million depend on the
tea industry for their livelihood. This includes private factory, export
and broking sectors, together with other ancillary industries, such as
shipping, transport, printing and packaging.
Although Sri Lanka is not the largest producer of tea and ranks
fourth among the tea producing countries, the Sri Lanka's tea industry
has the greatest impact on the economy and population of its country. It
is not fully appreciated that Sri Lanka's tea industry supports
approximately 20 percent of the country's population, through direct and
indirect employment, out-sourcing dependent families.
The Small Tea Holder sector, an industry stakeholder created in the
main, as a consequence of the Land Reform Act implemented in 1975,
accounts for two million individuals. The Corporate Plantation sector
has one million people residing on its properties, with instances of as
many as four members of a single family providing employment within the
sector.
"As the Chairman of the Apex Body of the Tea Industry of Sri Lanka,
the Colombo Tea Traders' Association (CTTA), I acknowledge with immense
satisfaction, the formation of the International Tea Producers' Forum
[ITPF], comprising seven of the largest tea producing countries in the
world.
For many decades, repeated endeavours had been made to establish such
a forum, without success. It is therefore most gratifying that it was on
the initiative of Sri Lanka that this was finally accomplished.
In regard to this, Minister of Plantation Industries, Mahinda
Samarasinghe, must be commended for his vision, ingenuity and resolve.
Justifiably, the privilege of hosting the first Secretariat of the Forum
has devolved upon the Sri Lanka Tea Board, which is estimably equipped
to undertake such a responsibility and guide it to maturity."
Chairman Jayantha Keragala, further stated that the ITPF had been a
long felt need and would enable the fraternity of tea producers to
co-operate in a multitude of producer related aspects and arrive at
consensual propositions, which would benefit the global tea industry as
a whole.
Consequently, it is not inappropriate that the mantle of prime mover
in this significant undertaking should have been conferred upon Sri
Lanka.
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