Sri Lanka tea sector stuck in colonial-era model

Major issues: Workers plucking tea at an estate in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka. There is a lack of a proper mechanism of price controls and wages in the country’s plantation sector. — AP

COLOMBO: Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) are encountering difficulty in planning the future of their financial viability due to the slowness of the government and the trade unions in exercising the best choice for the sustainable future of the sector, The Island Financial Review learns at a recent press briefing called by the The Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PA).

It was revealed during the question and answer session that on the one hand there is a lack of political-will to deviate from the colonial-era daily wage model after 75 years of independence as the matter is politically sensitive to the government.