Inventor boosts tea industry

By L.S. Ananda WEDAARACHCHI

President Mahinda Rajapaksa presents the award to Ranjith Rajapaksa

The local expertise should be tapped to manufacture machinery for indigenous industries said Ranjith Rajapaksa the presidential award winner for manufacturing the processed tea cutter.

Rajapaksa said that the tea cutter has helped reduced wastage in tea plucking.

It won the Presidential Award for the best invention in the agriculture sector at a ceremony organised by the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission of Ministry of Technology and Research in 2010.

"I have been trained under the renowned Sri Lankan engineer Ray Wijeyawardena who invented a number of machines. The hand tractor was invented by Wijeyawardena, he said.

Rajapaksa who is the head of the Research and Development Department, Jinasena Co., Ltd, Colombo said that research and development are vital for development. Developing countries cannot entirely depend on imported machinery which do not suit the local requirements. Sri Lanka currently imports agricultural machinery mostly from China and India. The users of these machines have come across some difficulties, Rajapaksa said.

Rajapaksa had turned out a number of agricultural and food processing machines for small and medium sector industrialists.

Korean and Vietnam entrepreneurs showed interest in buying some of locally turned out agricultural machines after his presentations in Korea and Vietnam last year. "Our first priority is to satisfy the local demand and then accept foreign work," Rajapaksa said. It is the willingness on the part of the individual to turn out new things that should take precedence of the assets such as skills and labour, he said. Agriculture and food precessing machines turned out by Ranjith Rajapaksa are the reaper, thresher, processed tea cutter and the multi chopper.

A substantial loss of paddy harvest in Sri Lanka is due to the shortage of labour during the peak season of harvesting. The reaper was developed as a solution to the problem.

Threshing is difficult during the wet weather conditions, when traditional methods are not possible.

The thresher was introduced to address this problem. The processed tea cutter helps improve high quality tea production and reduce the wastage.

The multi chopper was developed to chop green cuttings, coconut busks, straw and other bio-degradable materials for the manufacture of cattle feed and poultry feed.

Multi chopper	Multi purpose grinder	Multi chopper	Processed tea cutter