The banning of the main weedicide used in tea plantations, without any plan, prior warning and a viable alternative, has impaired productivity and increased the cost of tea production drastically, Colombo Tea Traders’ Association Chairman Anselm Perera told a gathering at the Association’s 123rd Annual General Meeting held in Colombo last week.
He said manual weeding is labour intensive, costly and leads to soil erosion. The exercise needs a large work force and finding labour for manual weeding is a daunting task.
“The application of fertilizer is a futile effort if the proper weed killer is not applied. Two prominent bodies in the plantation sector lobbied steadfastly for the lifting of the ban. However, it was a futile effort once again,” Perera said.
“The hand behind the ban, is one who is neither a scientist nor a planter. Such a move is tantamount to ignoring scientific evidence and proof. An approach of this nature is detrimental to the plantation industry which has turned 150 this year,” he added.
The ban on Glyphosate continues to affect all growers. The industry has weathered many storms such as the adverse weather that hit the crop badly in 2015 and this year too. Besides the global oil prices, the crisis in the Middle East and Russia which are major markets for Sri Lankan Tea affected export volumes and prices.
Tea production dropped to its nadir since 2009 to a mere 292 million kg last year. The best year for tea exports was 2014 which recorded an income of US$ 1.6 Billion.
The industry must be put first. Short sighted attitudes will be detrimental to the growth of the industry. No longer is Ceylon Tea the best in the world. Many countries are ahead of Sri Lanka in terms of quality, production and exports.
Kenya is the largest exporter of tea today. Germany which does not have a single bush is the largest exporter of value added tea. Dubai too has stolen a march on Sri Lanka. A Kenyan plucker plucks around 50 kgs a day while a Sri Lankan plucks only around 18 kgs.
Perera said the tea hub concept goes on without any progress. The absence of one voice in the industry is one of the main causes for the non starter. The promotion and marketing levy is not used properly. “A larger percentage of production still falls short of the potential in quality,” Perera said.
State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne said there has to be evidence based decisions in the Government. With regard to the weedicide the issue has to be re-canvassed. “The volume of production in 2016 is a cause for concern,” the minister said.