Government fails to support tea industry

COLOMBO (News 1^{st) -}  The small-scale tea estate owners express serious concerns over lack of attention by the government to promote quality tea production.

They indicate that tea cultivators should be produced with better fertilizer subsidy in order to avoid them using cheap raw material and mix with the fertilizer.

When cheap raw materials are mixed with low-cost fertilizer the quality of the tea production decrease, they point out.

According to the small scale tea estate owners, this stands as a major challenge in terms of producing better quality tea leaves.

They accuse the government of not providing adequate fertilizer subsidy and not setting up a controlled price on tea.

Questioned by News 1^st on tea estate owner’s concerns, Secretary to the Ministry of Plantation Industries, Mr. J.A. Ranjith said that the fertilizer subsidy is distributed an without interruption.

He further commented that small scale tea estate owners should bring up their concerns to the discussion table with the Ministry of Plantation Industries.