Ceylon Tea in catch 22? Is there a solution?

The analysis of the Tea Plantation Industry (TPI) by Rohantha Athukorala in Daily FT of 22 May 2012 indicates a serious situation in the plantations.

Has the TPI become nonviable mainly due to the wage increases granted and due to the decline in the demand from the Middle Eastern and North African markets? How did the “…model to the world across the value chain, from growing to production and from physical distribution to the most admired auction system in the world” become a God’s worry?

The present situation is certainly a very big worry as the SL Tea Industry (TI) generates US$ 1.5 b annually and gives employment to close to a million people.

Considering the COP and the NSA during the 10 years from2001, the former is shown to be too high even in 2003. The gap between the two has been highest during the period 2007-2010. During the last five years, the COP has risen appreciably and is this mainly due to the higher costs the plantations have faced? What is the main problem to the present situation?

The statistics show that a substantial percentage of the area in production consists of old and senile tea. The yield has declined from 1,502 kg per hectare in 2000 to 1,323 kg per hectare in 2007 and possibly it has dropped further since then.

Is this yield high enough? Are the declining yields due to lower pH levels in the soils as well? The remedial solution of a ‘robust replanting programme’ is unlikely to be implemented as the expected cost of replanting will be around Rs. 2 m. per ha.

The TRI has stated that the situation with regard to declining yields and lower annual production will get worse within the next five years. The smallholders who produce 70% of the annual production are also showing a similar trend in lower yields due to the ageing tea bushes.

Can an old and exhausted donkey be tempted or forced to increase productivity?

The main problem obviously is the senility of tea bushes and the inability to replant the existing substantial extents of Uneconomical Tea (UT). The annual demand for Ceylon Tea is said to be around 350 million MT. Will high yields by replanting and maybe with the application of biochar, if achieved, produce more than the demand and what will the consequences be as far as the NSA is concerned?

The immediate problem lies in deciding what can be done with the substantial extents of the UT. Can and should it be replanted? It can always be diversified, but with what?

It is not too late to consider the production of vegetable fats for the global cosmetic, food and confectionery industries? The production of cocoa beans and butter are negligible in SL. Exotic Vegetable Fats (EVF), Shea (Africa), illipe (Indonesia), kokum, mango seed kernel and sal (India), are all approved commodities in the production of cocoa butter equivalents (CBE) in the US and EU.

The production of none of these EVF can be increased within a short period of time except for kokum, indigenous and grown in India. Making use of this opportunity, a programme is underway to grow the species and produce kokum butter on a substantial scale in Kerala.

Pentadesma butyracea is a species that exists in the forests in several countries in the Tropical West African Region. Introduced to Seychelles, Singapore and Sri Lanka in the late 1890s, it has become invasive in Seychelles simply because not a single seed of this oil rich source is picked up. This invasiveness proves how easy it is to establish and grow this tree crop.

The 115-year-old tree at the National Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya, produces a substantial quantity of fruits and seed every single year. Successfully growing 28 month old plants can be seen in the wet zone in Pelmadulla. Identified buyers for this fat will purchase any tonnage produced. This vegetable fat can be used locally as a cooking oil/fat. It can be used in the production of a CBE and to produce biodiesel as a substitute for imported diesel.

The maintenance of the UT in the present condition is degrading agricultural land further at a time when all such lands should be made productive. To improve the existing situation, diversifying the UT with tree crops is a good solution.

The species Pentadesma butyracea and Garcinia indica are suitable tree crops for diversifying the UT. These tree crops can be established without uprooting the existing tea. The cost of establishment and maintenance will be low allowing the harvesting of green leaf from the existing tea.



(For further information, email [email protected].)