• Claim young farmers not registering
• Cite arduous procedural commitments 

The National Tea Planters’ Association said that around half of the plantation owners, particularly those from the younger generation, are not registering for the Government’s fertiliser subsidy due to the procedures and commitments involved, while the deteriorating profitability of the tea industry is also pushing young people away from plantation work towards the garment sector.

The Association’s President Saman Geeganage told The Daily Morning that a situation has emerged where both the new generation of plantation owners and young workers are moving away from the sector as the industry continues to deteriorate. According to him, around 50 per cent of plantation owners do not register for the fertiliser subsidy programme. “The new generation does not expect aid and concessions from the Government. They only need a tax cut on fertiliser. There is a huge procedure to obtain this subsidy also. You should go to the tea adviser, get registered with smallholder tea committees and continuously take part in committee meetings. But, the farmers don’t have time for these. The labour issue is vital in this sector, and engaging in these activities is a huge cost. The youth don’t like this,” he said. He said that the price of fertiliser still remains unaffordable for many plantation owneRs “Still, the price of a bag of fertiliser is unaffordable. A bag of Urea 709 fertiliser still costs Rs 13,000. The harvest is also going down with this. While the overall export income is increasing, the production of tea leaves has reduced by 3.6%. The Government gives a lot of publicity to the subsidy, but, in most cases, it is not received on time. There are around 500,000 plantation owners, but at least half of them don’t register for this programme,” he said. He added that the younger generation is either withdrawing from tea plantations or turning to alternative crops.

Meanwhile, Geeganage said that the unprofitable situation of the plantation sector has also affected the welfare of plantation workers, with private plantation companies no longer able to invest in workers’ health and well-being as they did previously. “Earlier, the private plantation authorities could invest in the health and well-being of plantation workers, and workers had better lives. But, with the reduction in profits, they have withdrawn from this, leaving only the Government to take care of them,” he said. He said that, as a result, young people in plantation areas are increasingly choosing jobs in garment factories and other sectors rather than working in tea plantations.

However, Geeganage also said that while the issue of farmers not receiving their due payments from tea factories has been resolved following Government intervention stopping the systematic corruption, outstanding payments are still yet to be received. “We further request the Government to give us a good price for tea leaves and to reduce taxes on fertiliser as well,” he concluded.