Joint venture to support tea small holders

The Tea Research Institute (TRI) and the Gemidiriya Foundation launched a joint research and tea development program last week to support tea small holders in the Rathnapura district.

This initiative will help tea small holders to increase their income by earning a higher price for their green leaves and increase yield and productivity using technology provided by the TRI.

Under the program a MoU was signed between the TRI and the Ruwanpura Gemidiriya Federation (RGF), the umbrella organisation of the Gemidiriya Peoples Companies in the Rathnapura district. According to the agreement RGF will supply green tea leaves of the member farmers of the Gemidiriya Companies to the TRI owned St. Joachim tea factory. At present the tea factory is running at under capacity due to shortage in supply of green leaves.

In return TRI will provide technical consultancy and new technology such as soil testing, fertiliser recommendation, new high yield clones, assistance for replanting, technical knowledge for nurseries and equipments such as selective tea harvester and innovative tea basket designed by TRI to the small holders to increase their productivity.

The MoU was signed at a ceremony held at St. Joachim tea factory premises last week. The CEO of the Gemidiriya Foundation, Dr. Gamini Batuwitage said that this new initiative has built strong collaboration between the government sector, private sector and the community. The Gemidiriya Federation represents the organised community and Gemidiriya has organised community in registered business companies.

They follow the best governance and management concepts based on ten golden rules of Gemidiriya. Our negotiations with TRI was carried out at highest level and we have discussed all aspects of the business and finally we have agreed on a sustainable business model. We hope to expand this program to other districts as well, he said.

The Chairman of the Tea Research Board, Dr. S.D.G. Jayawardena said that tea small holders contribute 75% of the Rs. 125 million annual export revenue of the tea industry. Although they largely contribute to the country’s economy still our small scale tea producers do not have due social recognition. A reason for this is the absence of a business model in the agricultural sector.

As there are many stakeholders this new partnership will build a new business model and it will improve the livelihood of the small scale tea producers, he said.

The St. Joachim factory has over 15,000 kg daily production capacity. But today it receives only around 5,000 kg green leaves.

Under the program RGF agreed to supply green leaves collected from over 15,000 growers. The growers will receive Rs. 55-60 kg price for green leaves and 33% of the profit of the factory. (GW)