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| Sunday, 4 August 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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TRI holds top position in World Market by Deepal Warnakulasuriya Sri Lankan tea still holds the top position in the World Market in terms of quality, flavour and taste. It has also preserved the record of producing the "Cleanest Tea" for the World Market. Much of this acclaim is due to the Tea Research Institute (TRI) which has distinguished itself for keeping the record intact.
And now, given the task of finding an alternative to the much maligned methyl bromide (MeBr) which has been identified as one of the substances responsible for the depletion of the ozone layer. They have once again been successful, with not just one alternative, but several. MeBr is widely used by the tea sector as a pest control measure to keep the tea plant harming nematodes at bay. The Montreal Protocol on substances that control the ozone layer, which in 1997 made a calendar to phase out chloro fluoro carbon (CFC) substance, gave Sri Lanka time until 2015, to stop using MeBr. The TRI was expected to begin looking for an alternative this year. However, in a surprise turn of events, the TRI has come up with three alternatives. Funded by the United Nations Development Program under United Nations Environment Program.
These include: 1. The use of locally available agricultural waste as soil substitutes to eliminate tea nematodes from the nursery. 2. Removal of nematodes from the soil, by heating it up in a specially constructed machine and 3. Destroy nematodes through soil solarisation. Project Leader and the Officer In Charge, TRI Mrs. Susila I. Vitharana explaining the Nematodes Agents Alternative to methyl bromide project, said that MeBr had been used to eradicate the Meadow nematodes (Loof), the Burrowing nematodes (Cobb) and the Root-knot nematodes (Chitwood) from tea soils since 1965, and that the application of MeBr was a sure and speedy way of pest controlling, which was also effective in the field and the nursery. Commenting on the 1st alternative she said three different organic materials from locally available agricultural wastes (tea waste, coir dust and paddy husk) were tested as soil substitutes to eliminate tea nematodes from the nursery. Each experiment included an untreated control. The experiment was conducted over a period of 18 months, and according to Mrs Vitharana, it was a complete success. Further explaining the experimental process she said that they used the three materials separately as well as together. All the experiment carried a MeBr system and an untreated control, she said adding, "Nine months after cuttings were planted we had a check on nematodes and growth. Test materials became nematodes free as MeBr and nematodes were only in untreated control. Best growth of plants was also shown in tea waste". The usage of MeBr takes place in tea nurseries when cuttings are kept in prepared polythene bags in plants-beds. The chemical is exposed to plants that are covered by a sheet of polythene, since the chemical is very harmful to any living creature. "Now we can use these organic materials, which are not harmful to the atmosphere", she said proudly. Maxwell Perera, Assistant Manager, Pedro Tea Estate, Nuwara Eliya said that they had been using MeBr for pest control in nurseries. "We were requested by the TRI to stop the usage of chemicals harmful to the ozone layer and introduce an alternative. Using tea waste, coir dust and paddy husk in the nurseries was successful, and as a result we are able to stop the use of chemicals," Mr.Perera explained. The second alternative introduced is a special machine created by the Technical Unit of the TRI to remove the nematodes from soil in the nursery. Constricted with the use of domestic items including a large galvanised box, the machine purifies soil samples through a heating process, using domestic gas. According to a spokesman of the technical unit, the technology was available in other countries. But, the speciality in this machine is its low cost, and the combination of modern technology with domestic items. The third alternative destroys the nematodes in tea plants at nursery level through the process of soil solarisation. Here, solar heat is used to destroy soil pests through a hydro-thermal process during which physical, chemical and biological changes takes place in moist soil kept covered with transparent mulch over a certain period. Being a non-chemical method, it is not hazardous to the user or nor does it include any unruly substances. It can also reduce pest damage safely, effectively and economically. A spokesman for the Ozone Secretariat of UNEP said that Sri Lanka didn't produce any Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS), but depended upon items imported from other countries. "Sri Lanka imported CFCs, Halons, carbon tetrachloride, Methyl chloroform, HCFCs and Methyl bromide over four decades until today. It was a disaster piercing the ozone layer bringing a number of bad effects to mankind the UNEP decided to fund developing countries to phase out such dangerous chemicals," the spokesman added. TRI officials also revealed that if nematodes invaded a field, every single plant should be removed and destroyed. A soil rehabilitation process could be done by planting Mana (one tropical grass) in the field for a period of two years. "But, we can't be sure that it would be done because it needs time and money. The TRI has no legal authority and that 's why we are so vigilant to control the situation", they said. |
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