State looks at longer leases, new investors, RPC mergers
Plantations Minister Navin Dissanayake on Thursday night assured estate owners that the glyphosate ban would be lifted for the benefit of the plantation industry. This was highlighted when he addressed the 162nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Planters Association. Following discussions with the President and Prime Minister and other related parties the government will work out a formula to import glyphosate, a herbicide used to kill weeds, for the large scale agricultural requirement. Meanwhile, as part of other measures to ease the burden on the estates the government has broached the prospect of entering into a 99 – year lease agreement for the Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) and even the possible merger of some of these plantation companies.
Moreover, he also told plantation companies that he had received calls from possible investors keen on taking over the plantations. “There are new Sri Lankan conglomerates that are willing to take over and this has happened,” he said. Outgoing Planters Association Chairman Roshan Rajadurai highlighting the losses noted that the revenue top line loss for RPCs from tea and rubber price drop was Rs.9.3 billion. The withdrawal of the fertiliser subsidy cost the plantations Rs.2.5 billion and the ban on weedicides cost them a further Rs.2.5 billion. The national tea production has dropped by around 25 per cent and the rubber production was down by over 40 per cent, he stated.