Plantation Industries Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana yesterday said the Government will roll out a two-year initiative from 2022 to revive the unexploited tea estates.

“We will provide tea plants and distribute compost free-of-charge to the unexploited estates,” he said at the post-Cabinet meeting media briefing yesterday.

The Minister also pointed out that they were making a lot of effort to restructure and manage Janatha Estates Development Board (JEDB) and Sri Lanka State Plantations Corporation to overcome the heavy losses incurred over the past years. 

“These two State agencies had engaged in large-scale malpractices during the past regime which resulted in massive losses to the Government coffers,” he claimed.

Dr. Pathirana assured the Ministry took proactive measures to mitigate the losses incurred by these two State enterprises.

Planters’ Association welcomes Govt. decision to allow fertiliser imports