Minister to address Planters' AGM

Ceylon Tea marks 150th anniversary next year:

Minister of Plantation Industries, Navin Dissanayake will be the chief guest and the keynote speaker at the 162nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Planters' Association of Ceylon on Thursday, September 15.

This year's AGM takes place just before the celebration of a milestone for Sri Lanka's tea industry, the 150th anniversary of Ceylon Tea, which was introduced by James Taylor at the Loolecondera estate in 1867. With a membership over 180, including 23 Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs), the Planters' Association's membership manages approximately 40 per cent of the country's tea, rubber, palm oil and coconut lands in addition to the management of 332 factories.

The sector directly employs nearly 200,000 people and when combined with indirect employment, is estimated to provide a livelihood to over one million Sri Lankans across the island.

Among its affiliate bodies, The District Planters' Associations too have played an important role in supporting the development of plantation executives through regular meetings with eminent guest speakers, particularly in terms of events focused on personal development.

Founded in 1854 - a full 13 years before the setting up of the first commercial tea plantations in Sri Lanka - the Planters' Association has been a vital contributor to the development of Sri Lanka's plantation sector and the wider national economy for well over one and a half centuries.

From its inception, the Planters' Association has been at the forefront of numerous vital initiatives relating to development of the country's plantation industry - from contributing approximately one-fourth of the cost of constructing Sri Lanka's hill-country railway systems in 1857 through the imposition of a voluntary cess to similar measures that led to the country's first ever tea promotion campaign in 1894 in addition to playing a leading role in the setting up of the Tea Research Institute of Ceylon in 1925.

The Association has also played a crucial role in terms of generating an improved understanding of the present spectrum of challenges and opportunities faced by the Sri Lankan plantation industry including issues related to wages, productivity and pertinent agricultural practices and policies and their impact on the industry and its large group of stakeholders, a press release of the Association said.