Plantation industries face uncertain future
Sri Lanka’s current debate over the agrochemical use and shifting towards organic farming has become a growing concern among the plantations sector as crop protection using pesticides and herbicides are in short supply raising issues relating to the future of key foreign exchange generating sectors like tea and rubber.
Elpitiya Plantations PLC COO Geethkumara Dayananda addressing a webinar organised by the National Institute of Plantation Management on Tuesday said that pest damage is a serious issue as crops have to compete with weeds, worms and plants eating insects, bugs, mold and fungus. The webinar was moderated by Peradeniya University Senior Prof. Buddhi Marambe.
About 54 percent consists of herbicides and the rest comprises insecticides, fungicides, rodenticides among others, he noted.
Pesticides have not only helped to improve the crop production but also control pest diseases, one of the reasons for the eradication of Malaria from Sri Lanka since 2016, Mr. Dayananda noted.
Sri Lanka currently uses pesticides with a very low risk level compared to those available in the global market, as recommended by the Registrar of Pesticides, he explained.
Today the pestalotiopsis disease or the pesta disease is spreading among the rubber plantations and has already impacted 20,000 hectares of rubber cultivation.
As a result the forecasted crop loss is 10-30 per cent compared to the exports of 78,205,000 kg in 2020 and this would mean a possible loss of about US$58.65 million.
Talawakele Plantations Krishna Ranagala pointed out that the climate emergency risk is the main risk currently for the plantation sector that they will be unable to control. In this respect, he noted they needed to work out long term plans and strategies.
Detailing a holistic approach to the plantation sector, he explained they needed to create economic growth of and equitable value sharing to generate profits; minimise total environment footprint of business operations in line with the planet; and unlock values by linking social and business results targeting the people.
Estate Owners Association for Galle –Kalutara Secretary Ranjith Gunawardena highlighted the practical concerns faced by them regarding the new organic policy implemented by the government.
He noted that the estate owners were complaining they were unable to meet the said targets and that today they are also unable to pay Rs.1000 to the workers and as a result they are unable to provide the required production level.
As a result the future generations are unlikely to continue this traditional venture as they assume there is no proper technologies to move ahead and ‘we’ are still engaged in the same crop production methods that was left to ‘us’ by the colonials.
Kelani Valley Plantations Panawatte Deputy General Manager Eranda Welikala said that if the pesta disease is not controlled it could result in potential loss of 1450 kg yield per hectare and Rs.704, 700 per hectare.
Moreover, if ‘our’ national average drops by 10 per cent to 850 yield per hectare the potential loss will be Rs.48,600 per hectare, he said.
Sri Lanka is the largest exporter of industrial solid tyres and the fifth largest exporter of surgical and examination latex gloves in the world, according to the Export Development Board.
Factory Owners Association Vice President Lionel Herath addressing the webinar pointed out that today the tea factories are facing more challenges than opportunities.
With about 715 factories only 680 are operational and 400 of them are privately owned and 75 per cent of the leaf is obtained from the smallholders, he said.
But under the current situation without proper guidelines the factory owners are facing a major challenge affecting production, Mr. Herath said.
In a switch to organic tea growing according to a survey carried out by one factory owner from 2012 to 2019 it has been observed that annual production which started out at 23,788 kg for every three acres continued to drop over the years by 227 kg, then 427 kg and finally dropped by 531 kg in 2019 to reach 4, 673 kg, Mr. Herath explained.