{"id":107766,"date":"2020-10-19T16:54:50","date_gmt":"2020-10-19T23:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=107766"},"modified":"2020-10-24T14:27:29","modified_gmt":"2020-10-24T21:27:29","slug":"future-of-the-tea-industry-in-sri-lanka-who-will-pluck-tea-leaves-in-10-15-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/10\/19\/future-of-the-tea-industry-in-sri-lanka-who-will-pluck-tea-leaves-in-10-15-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Future of the Tea industry in Sri Lanka; Who will pluck tea leaves in 10-15 years?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

In\nthe tea industry, the tea taster reigns supreme. Yet strangely enough tea\ntasting begins with the plucker. This is because the taster\u2019s judgment depends\non how the leaves have been plucked. There are two forms of plucking: fine and\ncoarse. The former is essential to a good cup of tea, and as a rule it involves\nthe plucking of the leaf and the bud. Coarse plucking, as the name suggests, on\nthe other hand produces teas of inferior quality \u2013 <\/em>A history of our tea \u2013 Uditha Devapriya\nMedium August 2019<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The long term future of the tea industry in Sri Lanka\nis dependent on one single factor and that is who will be plucking tea leaves\nin the years to come.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The traditional female plantation worker with a big\nbasket on her back, underpaid, unappreciated and physically drained, would be a\ndiminishing breed of workers as the next generation of such workers would be\nbetter educated and in more gainful employment. The terrain of most tea\nplantations is such that mechanization will be difficult if not impossible, and\neven if it were possible, it will diminish the quality of tea that the country\nis famous for and takes pride in. However, in the longer term, introduction of\nappropriate mechanization methods may be the only way the industry could\nsurvive as a viable economic agriculture produce in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tea plucking has been the vocation of the plantation\nsector Tamils, primarily the women amongst them, since tea was introduced to\nSri Lanka, then Ceylon in 1832. Indian Tamils as they were called for a long\ntime, were treated like slaves, some opine that many of them are still treated\nas slaves even today, and their treatment as sub humans, paying them a pittance\nfor their labour, providing them with inhuman living conditions, suited the\nrich landowners and industrialists. This labour force was exploited and kept in\nsuch sub human conditions as it benefited the land owners who could keep their\nproduction costs low and maximize profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, life has changed to a degree for the\nplantation sector, and there has been an increasing sideways and upwards\nmobility for many Tamils in the plantation sector. In a 2019 publication by\nthe <\/strong>International\nCentre for Ethnic Studies <\/strong>titled <\/strong>Up-country Tamils: Charting\na New Future in Sri Lanka, <\/strong>(Edited\nby Daniel Bass and B. Skanthakumar), these changes, and what has not changed,\nhas been researched and well-articulated. This publication is a must read for\neconomic planners, and for those engaged in social studies in order to get an\ninsight into the plight of many in the plantation sector, especially the women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfollowing extract from this publication is very relevant to the trajectory of\nthe future of the tea industry in Sri Lanka. Quote A majority of tea\nplantation workers are women, and it continues to be one of the few jobs\naccessible to Upcountry Tamil women born into the plantations. The large\nnumbers of women in the plantation workforce gives it a gendered as well as\nclass and ethnic character. Traditional, patriarchal gender norms persist in\nthe Up-country, as is the case throughout the island, especially involving\nhousehold chores as a woman\u2019s duty, side by side with long work hours in the\nplantations. The changing labour dynamics on the plantations and the increased\noutmigration to urban areas, overseas employment and for education receives\nconsiderable attention from contributors to this volume. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few\nUp-country Tamils would probably want to work on tea plantations, if they have\nany other options. In recent decades, thousands of Upcountry Tamils have\nmigrated to urban areas, especially Colombo, for work in garment factories and\nin the informal economy, especially domestic work for women and shop\nassistants, drivers, and construction labourers for men unquote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nstrengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced by the industry has been\ndiscussed by many. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa himself chaired a recent\nmeeting recently to discuss the current status of the industry, how some\nimpediments may be overcome in order to ensure it continues as a major export\nand a foreign exchange earner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nis unclear however whether thought has been given to the status of the industry\nsay in 10 -15 years and beyond, outside the discussions on cost of production,\nwage pressures, uplifting living conditions of workers, fertilising plants, use\nof chemicals, value adding, threats from other major tea producers in Africa,\nIndia, Vietnam, China, Kenya etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfundamental question as to who would be available to pluck tea leaves in 10-15\nyears and beyond does not seem to have been addressed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nabsolute right of the next and coming generations of plantation Tamils to seek\na better and a different life for themselves and their families, through better\neducational opportunities, branching into other vocations and moving into other\nareas outside their traditional areas, for security reasons as well as for\nalternate economic opportunities, does not seem to have received the attention\nof the planners and the public to the extent it should have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ncurrent plight of the rubber industry, where many plantations are confronted\nwith the inability to tap rubber due to a shortage of tappers, will\nprogressively impact on the tea industry when plantations find that tea\nplucking is no longer a vocation that those in plantations wish to engage in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tea production<\/a> is one of the main sources of foreign\nexchange for Sri Lanka<\/a> (formerly called Ceylon), and accounts for some\n3% of GDP<\/a>, contributing over US$1.5 billion to the economy of Sri Lanka<\/a>. It employs, directly or indirectly, over 1 million\npeople. In addition, tea planting by smallholders is the source of employment\nfor thousands whilst it is also the main form of livelihoods for tens of\nthousands of families. Sri Lanka is the world’s fourth-largest producer\nof tea<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amongst the difficulties\nfaced by the tea industry in Sri Lanka, the low planting rate, low productivity,\nhigh cost of production, stagnant and shrinking tea growing land, and labour\nshortages have been highlighted. Fluctuations in exports and production in the\ntea industry, and importantly, the availability of mass produced, low\nproduction cost tea in African countries and India have been listed as\ncontributing factors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts in the industry\nneed to take into all of the above factors and others, and very importantly the\ndilemma that the industry will face without tea pluckers in time to come when\nthey plan the future of the industry. Such a plan should have immediate, medium\nterm and long term goals and strategies. In the medium to long term, strategies\nlike innovations, mechanisation opportunities and value adding, perhaps should\nform the basis for the industry, along with a strong marketing strategy, while\nmaintaining as best as possible, the existing methodologies for meeting market\ndemand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planting more tea when\ntea pluckers are hard to find, would be like planting more rubber where there\nare no tappers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Profit sharing with tea\npluckers and others directly engaged in plantation work, strengthening the tea\nsmall holder base and reducing large acreages of tea in some areas, where a\nfamily unit as owners of the holding would be responsible for managing the\nholding including tea plucking, and building smaller tea factories to cater to\nclusters of small holdings in order process plucked tea efficiently and an in a\ntimely manner, and at low costs, would be strategies that may be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another longer term bastion of the tea industry should\nbe an efficient, effective and independent research organization. While the Tea\nResearch Institute has dome yeoman service and continues to do so, the threats\nfaced by the industry calls for a more robust and forward looking research\norganization, perhaps even bi fold organizations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One entity to undertake crop research directly\nassociated with the tea growing environment (soil conditions, fertilizer,\nweedicides, pesticides, plant deceases and developing decease resistant\nproducts and mechanisms, etc) and the other, to research on value adding with a\nmarketing focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These entities should work very closely with the tea\ngrowers, both large plantations and small holdings, and their orientation\nshould be to serve the growers. There has to be much more collaboration between crop\nresearch institutes and the universities.  The entities\nshould be free from politicians and political interference and they could be\nformed as government owned, but independent organizations as distinct to\ngovernment departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research entity that is focused on supporting\nmarketing strategies, should essentially be oriented towards the marketing\nefforts and plans of private sector entities who are focused on value adding\ngoals and objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ntea industry should take note of the fact that connoisseurs of tea, who look\nfor nothing but loose leaf tea, are a dwindling clientele, unless the marketing\nstrategies in place to maintain, and widen this clientele. A large majority of\ntea drinkers are now tea bag users at home and in restaurants. Iced tea\n(particularly in the US but increasing in popularity elsewhere also),\nvarious varieties of flavoured teas are replacing the connoisseur tea market.\nThe demand for loose leaf tea does exist and will continue to do so, but the\nbulk of that market, which is not a traditional connoisseur market but\nconsisting mainly of clients who want strong, black tea, would increasingly be\nsupplied by African countries and India. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nquestion of sustainability of the industry from the point of view of soil\ndegradation, also needs to be factored in when medium to long term strategies\nare formulated.  Since 1863 tea leaves have been exported but only about\n25% of it is extracted when tea is brewed. The rest (75%) ends up as discarded\norganic matter enriching the soil of the importing countries at the cost of\ndepleting Sri Lanka\u2019s own soils. Besides this the shipping, warehousing and\nhandling costs for 75% of tea that is eventually discarded, is an impost that\nmaybe avoided by value adding mechanisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thought\nhas to be given to researching activities that would focus on sustainability of\nthe industry from both aspects noted above. It is now known that technology has\nbeen developed to manufacture liquid tea concentrate with sensory properties\nquite similar to freshly brewed tea. The writer is aware of a technology\nstartup company which has developed this tea concentrate and is looking for\ninvestors to commercialize it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nthis technology is perfected, and introduced in Sri Lanka, and the marketing\nstrategy includes creating a demand for such a product, Sri Lanka could\nactually export the concentrate and keep the organic matter behind and plough back\nas organic matter into the tea fields continuously, maintaining somewhat the\nsoil fertility that is important for sustainability. The export price would\nalso be much lower than shipping tea leaves or bags in bulk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nlong term future of the tea industry depends on innovation and adaptability to\nchanging consumption patterns and methods. While the overall clientele will\nconsist of even connoisseurs, but a smaller number, and tea bag consumers, the\neconomic future of the industry may lie in a product like tea concentrate with\nits tea flavour and aroma, which could be very easily made into a traditional\ncup of tea, or an iced tea or a flavoured tea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nmay be other innovations that will add value to tea and sustain its future as\none of the key income generators to the country. Lack of innovation on the\nother hand will result in Sri Lanka losing a key contributor to its coffers,\ntowards direct and indirect employment, and overall, to its economy itself. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale In the tea industry, the tea taster reigns supreme. Yet strangely enough tea tasting begins with the plucker. This is because the taster\u2019s judgment depends on how the leaves have been plucked. There are two forms of plucking: fine and coarse. The former is essential to a good cup of tea, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-raj-gonsalkorale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}