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Plantation Industries Minister handing over equipment to members of tea smallholders
Dr. Ramesh Pathirana showing how to shred for organic manure
Plantation Industries Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana said that Rs. 68 million has been allocated to establish 17 multi-purpose centres to collect and sell green tea and other agricultural products in six districts.
Accordingly, these 17 multi-purpose centres will be established in the Galle, Matara, Ratnapura, Badulla, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya districts by the Tea Small Holdings Development Authority (TSHDA) under the Smallholder Tea and Rubber Revitalisation (STaRR) project.
“The initiative will serve about 2,500 smallholders in the respective districts, and in addition to collecting green tea leaves, the people will also have the opportunity to sell other agro products such as cinnamon, pepper, areca-nut, kithul, and jaggery through these centres,” Dr. Pathirana said.
The STaRR project will also support tea replanting, intercropping and home gardening in the six districts where these multi-purpose centres will be built. Cinnamon plants, mango, rambutan, passion fruit, and custard apple plants will also be distributed among the families of small tea estate members.
“The members of the STaRR project will also be provided with necessary equipment which include; wheelbarrows, shovels, hoses, nets, etc. to produce organic manure for home gardening, and the TSHDA Societies will be provided with a composting machine for the production of compost,” STaRR Project Director Janaka Amarasinghe said.
He said that this machine can shred 1,000 kilos of raw material required for compost production and it is capable of producing ten times more compost than the existing standard.
Amarasinghe added that the multi-purpose building, which also houses a library service, could be used for various community events and educational seminars and workshops organised for children in the area.
