By Chamil Rupasinghe   

Matale and Kandy District Secretary of the Central Province Tea Small Holders’ Conference Dambagoda Seneviratne said more than 1700 members of the Tea Small Holders’ Association in eight districts would launch a massive protest throughout the island if the government failed to resolve the fertilizer shortage and provide relief to tea smallholders.   

He told the media yesterday that more than 450,000 people in the tea producing areas in the country were making a livelihood through the tea industry and that they were in a serious predicament. He said their demand was to resolve the shortage of fertilizer for the tea industry and that their campaign was not against the government.   
The District President of the Tea Small Holders’ Conference further said tea cultivation would be seriously affected for want of fertilizer and that it would result in a setback for the country’s tea industry.