In a bid to assist the tea small holding sector productivity enhancement drive and infuse modern technology, CIC Agribusiness for the first time launched Dallakin WenasaK at Galle Town Hall last Friday.
Managing Director, CIC Agri Cluster Waruna Madawanarachchi, said that through research they found out that Sri Lanka’s tea productively is one of the lowest in the world. “This is mainly because no new technical imputes were adopted by the sector. Sri Lankan tea industry in addition is also currently at crossroads facing several challenges like declining national productivity, high cost of production, labour shortages, climate change impacts and the emergence of new competitors in the international tea trade. What we plan to do is to assist to improve productivity of the tea small holders by introducing new technology.”
CIC Agri Business plans to undertake this project with a budgetary allocation of Rs. 50 million with the technical collaboration of the Ministry of Plantations, Tea Small Holder Development Authority, Tea Research Institute, Sri Lanka Tea Board, Tea Societies, Tea Factory Owners etc. as a Private-Public-people Partnership venture. An MOU in this regard was also signed.
“We will also for the first time start a tea nursery to supply high quality plants to fill the ‘vacancies’ in existing plantations.”
The Minister Agriculture & Plantation Industries said the plantation industry while hailing this program said that the sector suffered badly first with the C-19 pandemic, economic crisis where transport and factory operation was hampered due to power cuts and fuel shortages and finally the bid blow from curtailing fertilizer imports.
“But today I see that more focus is on 100% fertilizer and the sector should look at having a mix of organic fertilizer as well since it will help exports as well as the environment and health.” CIC Agri Cluster Consultant Dr. M. Sidhakaran, said that the tea sector contributes to around 14% of the total exports of the country and with modernization it could improve. “The average annual productivity of our tea lands is as low as 1,400 kg per hectare, which is very much less than the productivity recorded in many tea growing nations in the world.”
Kenya records an annual productivity of around 2,200 kg of made tea per hectare per annum and southern India where the climatic conditions are much like in Sri Lanka records around 2,200 kg/ha. “The contribution of the tea smallholder sector to the national production is about 75%.”
The current average productivity of this sector is around 1,500 kg/ha/yr. In the low country region, this average is in the range of 450 to 2600 kg of tea per hectare (175 – 1008 kg of green leaf per month).
A few progressive tea growers achieve tea yields over 2,000 kg per hectare while the majority obtain low yields leading to a wider yield gap.
“One of the major reasons for recording lower productivity in tea is the poor adoption of recommended agronomic practices in the cultivation i.e.: the use of inappropriate tea cultivars, not applying correct agri inputs in time and not following proper management practices.”
Being the premier Agribusiness company in Sri Lanka and as the main agri input supplier to the tea sector, CIC Agribusinesses envisages to implement a program to narrow down the yield gap in the tea small holder sector via implementation of “Dallakin Venasak” and intends to form farmer clusters and demonstration model tea estates in major tea growing districts in Sabaragamuwa and southern provinces. The main goal of the program is to reduce the current yield gap in tea by promoting tea growers to use the recommended agronomic practices, use of appropriate agricultural inputs coupled with a quality advisory service.”
The demonstration model tea farm concept is one of the most successful extension tools used worldwide to transfer technology to growers where they can see for themselves the benefits of good management practices. CIC Agribusiness already has its tea advisory arm in place and plans to expand the same to support the tea smallholder sector. The overall goal of the “Dallakin Venasak” program is to support the tea small growers in the low country region to enhance their productivity and green leaf quality from the present lower level to the potential levels with advisory services using model tea farms. The project will commence from January 2024 as a pilot for one-year period covering two monsoon seasons. A total of 200 tea grower clusters each having 15 – 25 growers will be formed at the beginning of the project. Approximately 3,000 tea growers will be selected as project beneficiaries.
“We consider that the project will be a great opportunity to significantly enhance the average yields of beneficiary growers in the low country region and entice other growers to follow them, eventually improving the national productivity of tea lands in the country,” said Chairman, TSHDA Chairman D.G. Mahipala.
Shirajiv Sirimane in Galle