The struggle of survival for the plantations will continue as long as the demand for increase in wages, immigration of workers and lucrative job prospects in urban areas for the young, exist.
It is an uphill task for management to keep the balance between profitability, a contended work force and a competitive market strategy. Gone are the days when a manager would not worry about estate matters after retiring to his bungalow.
The challenge today is to keep one’s head above water. Creativity to improve one’s area of responsibility will undoubtedly help the big picture.
My endeavours to uplift the living conditions of the under privileged continues in the way of providing water and power by solar with an absolutely unselfish open mind. The focus for sometime has been a way in which I could assist the plantations via solar.
The need of the hour is to reduce one’s cost of production. Looking at the manufacturing process I see a substantial saving by the use of solar power. Technology is far advanced. The product is superior to honour its guarantees. The time is ripe for the government and the Sri Lanka Tea Board to cushion and promote the alternative freely available product by way of incentives - similar to what was offered in the past with the purchase and use of generators. Carbon credit is another benefit available with the use of solar power. After 10 years of work on the use of solar power in plantations with reputed solar companies, I am now prepared to share this knowledge as a contribution to the plantation industry.
(The writer could be reached at darleywicks@yahoo.ca) |
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