Trouble brewing for Sri Lanka's tea industry
Updated
Tea is one of Sri Lanka's largest export earners and world tea prices are currently up but one sector of the country's tea growing industry is facing tough times. Problems with soil fertility coupled with a severe drought earlier this year has lead to thousands of subsistence farmers in Kotmale having to destroy their tea bushes. The farmers were resettled in Kotmale 25 years ago, after their traditional farmlands were flooded by a hydro-irrigation reservoir. Now Sri Lanka's Tea Research Institute is in the process of developing drought resistant tea crops and looking at other ways of helping sustain these struggling small farmers
Presenter: Claudette Werden
Speakers: Dr Sarath Abeysinghe, director Sri Lanka's Tea Research Institute
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ABEYSINGHE: In 2008, we got 1.3 billion US dollars, as foreign exchange through tea industry. If you take the employment through the tea industry, tea industry employs directly and indirectly about 1 million people, so it is not only foreign exchange earnings, it is a big employment area in Sri Lanka.
WERDEN: And are some of the tea farmers having problems at the moment in Kotmale?
ABEYSINGHE: The drough has affected the tea industry especially during first quarter of this year, compared to the last year, definitely the yield will be less.
WERDEN: But should they be growing tea, is there something better suited to that particular soil?
ABEYSINGHE: Yes definitely there is a requirement, not only soil but the climatic requirement are there, the plants need a certain amount of rain and so we cannot grow tea all over the country because tea plant needs certain type of soil and has to have a certain type of climate especially the Kotmale, that's the mid country area, there the elevations are in the mid levels so in that area, the soils are not that fertile and soil is eroded , so we have started the programme to improve soil fertility by various means.
WERDEN: Okay but do you think they should be growing something besides tea?
ABEYSINGHE: Yes that's right, you're correct now for example tea is one of the projects but typical small land holder land contains not only tea but other crops as well for example with tea, one can grow pepper and sometimes avocado, through this programme we are trying to introduce while improving the productivity of tea we are trying to introduce the other crops, we call it intercropping with pepper, avocado and other commercial crops, we are looking at wholistic approach not only tea to improve the livlihood of the small landholders in that area.
