Govt. to provide tea plantations with chemical fertilisers at concessional price

With the exorbitant market prices of the required fertilisers driving the tea plantations into financial turmoil, the government has decided to provide 40kg of fertilisers for each 100kg green tea leaf produced at a fair price for an interim period, with the expectations of resolving the current crisis by next February.

“The fertiliser crisis, which was triggered by the ban on chemical fertilisers, has been somewhat resolved now. However, the sector is facing another crisis, due to the high market prices of fertilisers in the country, which has become unbearable for farmers. In light of this, we have received requests to provide fertilisers at a concessionary price. Therefore, we have rolled out a programme to provide 40kg of fertilisers for each 100kg of green tea leafs produced,” Plantation Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana said at a meeting held at the ministry premises in Colombo, yesterday.

The meeting was organised to discuss the requests submitted by the lawmakers of the governing coalition in key tea growing districts for a fertiliser subsidy for tea plantations.

During the meeting, MP Weerasumana Weerasinghe warned that the tea plantations are facing imminent threat of total collapse, unless the farmers are able to secure the necessary chemical fertilisers right now, in particular given the upcoming drought season, which is expected to start in February.

He pointed out that the tea plantations in the Matara district only receives half of the fertiliser requirement, at an exorbitant price of Rs.6000-8000 per 50kg, which is four times higher than the price before the chemical fertiliser ban in May.  Overall, Weerasinghe pointed out that the tea plantations are now making losses, due to the high input costs, driven by the inflated fertiliser prices.

“The cost of production of green leaf is around Rs.115 per kilo.

 However, the farmers only receive Rs.90-100 for a kilo of green leaf,” he noted.  Commenting on the tea production of this year, Weerasinghe outlined that the record tea production seen during this year was merely due to the favourable agro-climatic conditions. He cautioned that tea production could be severely impacted next year.
Meanwhile, Pathirana was optimistic of resolving the current fertiliser crisis in the tea sector by next February.

He opined that the tea farmers could increase their yield to 700-800 kg of green leaf per acre from the current yield of 200-300 kg by using a mix of chemical and organic fertilisers.  Commenting on the tea auction prices, he noted that the price of Ceylon Tea is unlikely to increase in the immediate future, given the pandemic-related crisis seen in the key tea consuming countries such as Russia and Iran.