Pussellawa Plantation wins awards for rubber replanting and productivity

Pussellawa Plantations Ltd, one of the Free Lanka Capital Holdings’ business ventures, clinched two awards at the National Plantations Awards 2012 ceremony, held at the Temple Trees recently.

The event was organised by the Ministry of Plantations Industries where President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the chief guest.

Pussellawa Plantations Ltd was declared winner under the category of ‘Highest Rate of Replanting (Rubber) in RPC (Regional Plantations Company) and also for achieving the Highest Crop Productivity (Rubber) in RPC Sector’.

Commenting on what contributed towards this achievement, a top company spokesperson said, the company’s attitude towards exploring and using innovative techniques in cultivation, the increase in the crop intake by adopting new techniques such as rain guarding, eliminating negative impact of rain interference during the time of tapping, new systems highly recommended by the Rubber Research Institute (RRI) such as low frequency tapping adopted by Pussellawa Plantations were major factors.

Additionally, they expect their yields to go up further especially, with new areas being allocated for production in the years ahead. Large extents replanted, commenced in 2005, and new high yielding clones developed by RRI have been used to re-plant along with new methods of cultivation of Rubber were also noteworthy.

In year 2011, 1,950 hectares were under immaturity planted since year 2005 which works out to almost 40% of the extent under rubber at Pussellawa Plantations. As a result of the extensive re-planting program done, the projections made reveal that by the year 2020, the yield per hectare (YPH) of this company will be reaching 1,550 level.

The plantations were the primary areas of business that brought Free Lanka Capital Holdings into the limelight in the very early years of establishment.

The two plantation companies namely, Pussellawa Plantations Ltd. and Maturata Plantations Ltd., are two of the largest tea producing companies in Sri Lanka and are world renowned for the superior quality tea and rubber. The history of the Pussellawa and Maturata Plantations date back to the 1840’s.

Pussellawa Plantations comprises of 11 tea estates that include two green tea factories, nine rubber estates and four tea cum rubber estates of which a significant acreage also accommodate the cultivation of rubber, coconut and spices.

These estates are located in Pussellawa, Udupussellawa, Nuwara Eliya, Kandy, Ruhuna and Sabaragamuwa tea growing areas covering finest tea growing regions of the country and popularly referred to as the ‘premium valley of Ceylon Tea’ and the ‘heartland of Ceylon Tea’.

‘Premium Valley of Ceylon Tea’ covers the estates Hellbodde, Delta, Rothschild, Mooloya, Geragama, Pambegama and Keragala coming under Pussellawa Plantations Ltd. and ‘Heartland of Ceylon Tea’ covers the estates High forest, Liddesdale, Ragalla, Alma, Gonapitiya, Ensalwatte, Diddenipotha, Anningkanda and Hayes.

Meanwhile, Pussellawa plantations’ total bought crop of tea from mid country and low country estates during year 2010 stood at 3,173,448 kgs.

In addition to the plantation sector, Free Lanka Capital Holdings is also involved in areas such as property development, leisure and hydropower generation in Sri Lanka. The success in the plantation industry has enabled the group to thrive in other ventures, broadening the scope as a holding company. Today FLCH stands tall among many other establishments purely because they are conscious about values that are upheld in generating commendable profits and growth.