Plantation Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana said that 17 multi-purpose centres to collect and sell green tea and other agricultural products will be set up in six districts.
The Minister said that Rs. 68 million has been allocated to construct these centres in the Galle, Matara, Ratnapura, Badulla, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya Districts by the Tea Small Holdings Development Authority under the Active Star Project.
The Minister also said that this will serve about 2,500 smallholders in the respective areas and in addition to collecting green tea leaves, the people will also have the opportunity to collect and sell other agro products including Cinnamon, Pepper, Arecanut, Kithul and Jaggery through these centres.
The Star Project will also support tea replanting, inter-cropping and home gardening in the districts. Under this, Cinnamon plants, Mango, Rambutan, Passion fruit and Custard apple plants will be distributed among the families of small tea estate members.
“The members of the Star Project will be provided with wheelbarrows, shovels, hoes, hoses, and nets among others to produce organic manure for home gardening, and the Tea Small Holdings Development Society will be provided with a composting machine to produce compost,” Star Project Director Janasinghe said.
He said that this machine can shred 1,000 kilos of raw material required for compost production, and it is capable of producing 10 times more compost than the old system.
The Project Director added that the multi-purpose building, which also houses a library service, could be used for various community events and educational seminars and workshops for children in the area.
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