Elevating estate communities

The Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PA), the representative body of the 23 Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs), says estate communities in RPC estates have seen improvements in all areas of quality of life since privatisation of plantation management in 1992.

The Plantation Human Development Trust (PHDT) that was also established in 1992 with government, trade union and RPC representation, and is entrusted with improving social welfare of estate populations in Sri Lanka, says all quality of life indicators among estate populations have improved over the past two decades.

“Since 1992, to date, we can confidently say that there has been a marked improvement in all areas of quality of life among estate communities, because of ongoing programmes to improve living standards in RPC estates in all plantation regions. To date, housing, health and sanitation, and estate infrastructure such as supply of electricity, internal roads in RPC estates, have all been improved with investments running into billions of rupees,” said Lalith Obeyesekere, Chairman PA.

This claim is further supported by the latest data from the Department of Census and Statistics which shows a significant improvement in estate sector living conditions.

“Although the urban sector shows no significant reduction in poverty since 2006/07 to 2009, the estate sector has reported an unprecedented two third reduction of poverty,” states the Department of Census and Statistics in its preliminary Household Income and Expenditure Survey report 2009/2010.

New homes for estate families

While Sri Lanka’s plantation communities have traditionally lived in line rooms built by the British during the Colonial era, today, estate families are moving to separate houses. Compared to the traditional line rooms, individual housing units, for each family, are seen as promoting a healthier lifestyle with more privacy and better sanitation facilities. From 1992 to date, nearly 25,000 new housing units have been built for estate families.

In parallel with the ongoing housing programme, a re-roofing programme to renovate damaged roofing of old line houses is also taking place to improve living standards in line houses until new housing units are built.

Better health and sanitation

Health standards among the estate population in RPC estates are being improved. To date, over half (55%) of the estate families in RPC estates have been provided with access to pipe borne water. Existing toilet facilities have been upgraded and new toilet facilities have been constructed. 53% of estate families, living in RPC managed estates, have access to one toilet per family, or toilets that are shared among three to four families. This is a significant improvement in sanitation, compared to the extremely limited toilet facilities previously available for estate families living in crowed lines rooms.

In addition to existing medical services within estates, free medical camps and de-worming programmes are also conducted among RPC estates. To improve the health infrastructure in RPC estates, 220 motorcycles have been provided to estate health staff and 98 ambulances have been provided to key estates, through international donor funding.

Improvement in infant and maternal health

Data from the PHDT shows continued improvements in health indicators in RPC estates. Institutional child births in RPC estates have increased from 60.8% in 1985 to 92% in 1996 to 98% in 2010. The PHDT says 97% of expectant mothers registered for antenatal care before 22 weeks of pregnancy in 2010 and immunisation of estate children are now almost 100% in RPC estates.

Infant and maternal mortality rates have reduced significantly, while family planning and other related health services have greatly improved in RPC estates.

A better future for children

The concept of Child Development Centres (CDC) has been introduced to improve childcare and child nutrition. Around 1,550 CDCs have been established in RPC estates across the country. These CDCs allow mothers to leave children under the age of five years in the care of trained Child Development Officers, while they go to work.

The children, under the supervision of Child Development Officers, are provided with proper early childcare development. At present, 250 Child Development Officers in RPC estates have successfully completed the National Diploma in Child Development, Pre-School Education and Management conducted by the PHDT.

Addressing malnutrition

The CDCs are also used to introduce a change of diet to young children and to educate mothers on how to feed and look after children and infants. In addition, a number of separate programmes are ongoing to target malnutrition including the provision of food items such as the nutritional supplement ‘Suwaposha,’ which is being distributed to estate communities in RPC estates, in collaboration with the National Food Promotion Board of the Ministry of Agriculture. These items are distributed through Estate Worker Housing Cooperative Societies.

Under the UNICEF Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Programme, awareness is created about healthy eating, especially in RPC Estates in Badulla, Hatton and Nuwara Eliya. So far the ECCD program has paved the way to train 1,700 Community Facilitators among estate youth on ECCD.

These initiatives have helped address historically poor health and nutrition indicators among plantation populations and are aimed at changing plantation community food habits, by educating children, mothers and youth, about healthy eating.

Education

Education levels of estate populations have steadily improved over the years, notes the PA. According to the Department of Census and Statistics, school attendance, in the 5-20 year age group, in the estate sector, was 74.5% in 2006/07. This figure [5-19 year age group ] increased to 83.3% by 2009.

Although the share of estate population with no schooling was 15.8% in 2006/07 this population had shrunk, to 8.8%, by 2009/10. The share of estate population that had passed G.C.E.(O/L) increased from 3.4% in 2006/07to 5.7% by 2009/10 and the share of G.C.E. (A/L) qualified and above, increased from 1.7% in 2006/07 to 4.2% by 2009/10.

Since 1992, over 200 young men and women have entered university from RPC estates.

Infrastructure development

The PA noted that other quality of life indicators such as the availability of essential facilities have also shown clear improvements in the estate sector. Electricity was available to 62.3% of the estate sector in 2006/07.

Availability of electricity increased to 84.0% of the estate sector by 2009. To improve mobility and access to services, approximately 1,200 kms of internal roads on RPC estates have been upgraded with an investment of Rs 1.2 Billion, out of the 3,950 kms identified for improvement.

Estate sector wages

On the topic of estate sector wages, the PA notes that workers of RPC estates have enjoyed regular wage increases through the process of collective bargaining. The latest Collective Agreement signed between RPCs and plantation sector trade unions in 2011 saw the estate sector daily wage package increase to Rs. 515 from Rs. 405.

This wage increase includes an increase in the basic wage from Rs. 285 to Rs. 380 and the addition of a Rs. 105 attendance incentive and a Rs. 30 fixed price share supplement. With a guarantee of 25 days work per month (300 days per annum), an estate worker has the potential to earn over Rs. 12,000 per month, which can be increased further during high cropping months, says the PA.

In addition, some RPC estates facilitate household cash management training programmes, aimed at educating estate families on managing their finances and Estate Worker Housing Cooperative Societies have been established in every RPC estate to encourage the saving habit. By now, these societies hold about Rs. 350 million worth of savings from estate families that are used to finance housing loans, micro financing, personal loans, vocational training, and social welfare facilities for, and by estate communities.  Despite the improvements hitherto effected, a considerable volume of work remains to be done and the PA says it will continue to encourage Regional Plantation Companies in their endeavour to improve living and working conditions within their estates.