10 new projects to boost plantation sector

• More restrictions on transferring plantation land 

 Cabinet this week approved 10 new projects for the plantation industry worth Rs. 730 million to be launched in 2018 while slapping more restrictions on tea, rubber and coconut land transfers for other development activities. 

Plantations Minister Navin Dissanayake also proposed allocating a total of Rs. 730 million from the General Treasury for 10 projects to be implemented by the Rubber Research Institute, Coconut Cultivation Board, National Institute of Plantation Management and Thurusaviya Fund under the supervision of the Ministry of Plantation Industries. 

Further, Minister Dissanayake this week obtained Cabinet approval to further restrict such transfers by tea, rubber or coconut smallholders by widening the restriction to cover land as small as two acres for tea and eight acres for tea and coconut, Cabinet Co-spokesperson Minister Gayantha Karunathilaka announced this week.

As per the existing law, permission has to be obtained from the Rubber and Coconut Estates (Control and Fragmentation) Board to transfer coconut land of four acres and tea or rubber estates greater than 20 acres for other development activities.