Future of tea, rubber and coconut industry in Sri Lanka

In the longer term, the basic act of plucking coconuts could become an issue unless there are enough pluckers, and they are adequately compensated. It is difficult to see how mechanisation could be introduced to address this issue

Much research has been done by numerous experts on the future of the plantation industry involving tea, rubber and coconut. While very valuable strategic options have been provided and focus shifted to existing and emerging technology as a futuristic vision, critical grassroots activities have not been adequately addressed. Who will pluck the tea, tap the rubber and pluck coconuts in say 20 years’ time. How will they do it?

A major, but yet unmet challenge exists with the tea, rubber and coconut industry even now but definitely futuristically as to who will pluck the tea, tap the rubber and pluck coconuts now and in 20 years’ time, and how will it be done. The answer to this poser, and how it will be done efficiently and effectively and economically will have a longer-term impact on industry. The highly labour-intensive nature of these three industries and the long-term challenge in finding the required labour does not seem to have been adequately addressed. 

In the plantation sector, the numbers seeking higher education and technical education, numbers seeking employment in other vocations and locations internally and numbers seeking overseas employment have and are bound to increase progressively posing a major challenge to the industry. 

The immediate reaction would be to say that mechanisation and other technologically driven advances would be the answer although specifics are yet to be identified. While machinery for tea plucking, rubber tapping and coconut plucking are perhaps a major requirement as labour replacement items, machinery for weeding and fertilising are also important as they are labour-intensive activities. Currently, as far as the writer is aware, all these activities are done manually.

In writing this article, the author has referenced a very well written and presented one by W.A. Wijewardena in February 2022 (https://www.ft.lk/columns/The-Future-of-the-Agriculture-and-the-Agriculture-of-the-Future/4-731185) where he has used a publication titled “The future of the agriculture and the agriculture of the future’. Its subtitle, ‘From beaten track to untrodden paths” by Professor Ranjith Senaratne, formerly Vice Chancellor of the University of Ruhuna and presently Chairperson, National Science Foundation as the basis for his article. W.A. Wijewardena’s article and the publication by Professor Senaratne are well worth reading and referencing and the intention of the author here is not to challenge or repeat what has been stated but use some key pointers taken from the article to present a few challenges faced by the industry at a very grassroots level, even now and most definitely in years to come. 

Lack of consultation with growers and farmers at grassroot level has been lacking and decisions imposed on them as top-down directives by politicians, genuine experts as well as so-called “experts”. The resulting lack of ownership of decisions and the decision-making process has followed as inevitable outcomes resulting in the absence of a coherent futuristic, but practical plan.

Few key pointers to note here are

• Unwise political decisions where grassroots are powerless – The attempt to organic farming overnight. 30 agricultural scientists had presented a joint memo to then President highlighting its disruptive features urging the President to defer it or implement it over a period. 
• How could grassroots be part of the decision-making process regarding the statement that “The challenge before the modern agriculture, is to make agriculture more productive, more resource-efficient, more resilient, more environment-friendly, less wasteful and more profitable”
• Research and development facilitated by the private sector. The private sector’s participation in research and development is needed because it will facilitate innovative commercial production of such research outcomes. However, information and knowledge sharing is a two way process and the private sector should take note of this and the wealth of historical and environmental knowledge that grassroots have.
• Ban on pesticides – While no direct evidence between pesticides and kidney diseases appear to exist, and rather than the use of pesticides per se that will have adverse impact on health but its overuse and misuse, requires the grassroots to be provided with proper education of farmers on the correct use of these essential inputs. 
• Soil degradation and impoverishment or soil erosion is a threat to food production, and it is caused by both natural reasons and human interventions. Again, education, advice, monitoring will be essential.
• Disseminating knowledge and information on water usage. The water problem in agriculture is as critical as the problem of soil erosion. This is because the main crop in Sri Lanka, rice farming, is not only a water guzzler but also a crop for which water is overused. Rice uses 3,442 litres of water to produce a kilogram of rice, tea uses 7,334 litres, and rubber 18,124 litres. The need for producing more foods requires the use of more water in greater volumes. Due to competing demand by households, industry, and for hydropower generation, there would be insufficient water available for agriculture. Hence, it is necessary to devise methods of more efficient use of water in agriculture and to do this in discussion with the grassroots.
• Producing more with less – The future of agriculture depends on the improvement of productivity and efficiency of resource use to produce more with less as there is no unlimited resource availability for any economic activity. A nation which ignores this crucial requirement is to suffer in the long run with declining outputs and incomes of people who are engaged in it. 
• Modernising agriculture and using digital technology for eco-friendly, resource efficient, knowledge driven agriculture. This calls for a cultural shift amongst the grassroots, for the efforts to succeed and it is perhaps the biggest challenge of all challenges. The possibilities which have been suggested are the use of sensors, software, digital connectivity, location tracking, robotics, data analytics, and digital devices in agriculture. One plus point in using digital technology is the decline in the cost of data use when the costs of all other inputs are rising. These high digital technologies can deliver the inputs needed, namely, water, fertilisers, and pesticides more efficiently to plants when they most need such inputs. 

What this means is that the agriculture of the future is not small-farmer based traditional farming, but smart-farmer based modern farming. This is a must and agricultural policy authorities should prepare the farmers as well as the systems in agriculture to embrace this.

The Tea Research Institute had undertaken preliminary testing of imported tea harvesting machines in Sri Lanka as far back as 1940s (https://www.tri.lk/motorized-selective-tea-harvester/). As reported, “The most recent experiments of the TRISL on mechanical harvesting focused on the physiological impacts of motorised harvesting and identified three basic impacts leading to crop losses. In addition to crop loss, quality of made tea produced by mechanically harvested shoots was also poorer than that of manually harvested crop. The higher % of coarse leaf content shoots of different maturity, cut-leaf pieces and damaged leaves present in the mechanically harvested crop were responsible for reduction in the quality of made tea. Poor manoeuvrability with the presence of shade trees, drains etc, sloping terrains, high plucking table (near-pruning fields), high capital and running (fuel) cost, frequent breakdowns and high ware & tare etc., were some of the common problems faced during motorised tea harvesting to date”.

Strategies to address challenges associated with the future of the tea, rubber and coconut industry perhaps need to be based on immediate/short-term, medium-term and long-term basis. Further, such strategies should not be politically driven as the consequences of a failure of the industry to provide vital revenue to the country and provide employment to many people will be detrimental to the entire country and not just a political party. In addition to the key posers presented referencing the article written by W.A. Wijewardena, and addressing the challenges mentioned, the following suggestions too need to be considered from the perspective of grassroot participation in decision making.

Subsidised fertiliser – How long should subsidies continue?

An uninterrupted fertilising program is vital to resurrect the drawbacks the industry faced during the last 3-4 years. It will be necessary to provide subsidised high quality chemical fertilisers to growers during this period. Beyond this and in the long term, subsidising may have to be stopped or the cost to the Government recovered in some way if subsidies are to continue. Alternatively, farmers who need financial assistance to buy fertiliser given short term loans. The costs associated with production and sale of produce will have to include the fertiliser cost and bank loans recovered from sale proceeds.

Supply and demand issues

a) Regarding coconut, with demand remaining as it was or increasing, a supply issue exists during lowest yielding period known as  yuia ldf,A or some call it ykiq udi . Lack of nourishment over the past four years due to the fertiliser saga and the high prices thereafter exacerbated the supply/demand gap. 

b) In the short/medium term, until the extent of coconut cultivation bears results, the supply shortfall could be addressed with imports to bring about price stability.

During this period, and even during other periods, the sale of young coconuts (kurumba) has a direct impact on the supply situation of mature coconuts. The general demand for mature coconuts has increased in the last few years due to the production of coconut oil for exports, coconut oil-based products for exports, coconut fibre and fibre-based exports and activated carbon. This is in addition to increase in coconut products like desiccated coconuts. 

It is logical therefore that a practice that impacts on the mature coconut supply situation has an overall detrimental effect on the supply of mature coconuts and pricing. It is therefore necessary to consider imposing a ban on young coconut plucking and selling and instead encourage people to grow more king coconut or thambili, the young of which are plucked and consumed as a pleasant drink.

Menace of theft, in particular theft of coconuts and rubber latex

Coconut – This is one of the most pressing problems facing growers, large and small. The situation worsens when supply issues dominate the market as stealing young and mature coconut is easy and quick money for the thieves. 

Rubber – Theft of rubber latex is reportedly a common problem for many small holders, although large holdings are also not spared by thieves. In many instances, robbed latex is even turned into rubber sheets and sold to buyers by such thieves. 

There are no means particularly for small holders to take any action against such thieves. If stealing goes on unabated, it is very likely that many small growers will give up cultivating coconut and rubber and replace them with other crops, thus making the supply situation even worse when it comes to coconut and rubber estates becoming wasteful land. All relevant authorities will have to give thought to this and take appropriate action. There are no deterrent mechanisms by the state to prevent such thefts and these thefts are considered minor offenses. Litigation process for such thefts is very cumbersome resulting in growers do not make any official complaints. 

Strategies to address challenges associated with the future of the tea, rubber and coconut industry perhaps need to be based on immediate/short-term, medium-term and long-term basis. Further, such strategies should not be politically driven as the consequences of a failure of the industry to provide vital revenue to the country and provide employment to many people will be detrimental to the entire country and not just a political party

Mechanisation of tea harvesting, rubber tapping and coconut plucking

Tea – As has been the experience of the Tea Research Institute, several factors had impacted on the outcome related to mechanised tea harvesting. Impact on the quality of the tea had been a major drawback, and for Sri Lanka and its earnings on tea, a detrimental impact on quality will pose a major challenge for the tea industry and the country. However, mechanised harvesting will have to be considered, perhaps even selectively where the tea growing terrain will facilitate mechanisation, and where it does not, employment of traditional methods. 

Rubber – It is interesting to note that Malaysia moved to mechanised rubber tapping as long ago as 1991. In a news item titled “Malaysia Modernizes Rubber-Tapping to Remain No. 1: Southeast Asia: Government hopes to stay competitive by reducing production costs by 20% (https://www.latimes.com/ archives/ la-xpm-1991-06-02-mn-338-story.html). The RRIM-Tap is a device attached to the tree and, when switched on, begins fully automated tapping in a spiral around the circumference of the trunk. It can be removed and attached to another part of the tree or even to the surface it has tapped before because of its non-damaging piercing mechanism”. 

While the rubber industry and the Sri Lankan Rubber Research Institute very likely has carried out research on this device and any other mechanised device that can reduce labour costs, it is well worth for the industry to perhaps investigate further and have a dialogue with the Malaysian Rubber Board which appears to have moved quite far in introducing mays and means on improving tapping methods and production costs (https://www.lgm.gov.my/webv2/ coreActivities /latexHarvesting/(physiology:research)

Coconut – As evident, the demand for mature coconuts has increased and the challenge is about ensuring an adequate supply to meet this demand. In the longer term, the basic act of plucking coconuts could become an issue unless there are enough pluckers, and they are adequately compensated. It is difficult to see how mechanisation could be introduced to address this issue. Perhaps more research and development of species of coconut trees that do not grow very tall and where harvesting could even be mechanised could be an answer.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the way forward with regard to many of the challenges identified in W.A. Wijewardena’s article, and other challenges mentioned like mechanisation, labour issues, supply issues, competitiveness, value adding processes, and the overall viability and the future of the tea, rubber and coconut industry rests with commercially oriented research and development and long term planning based on research findings and projections. The responsibilities assigned to the respective research institutes will have to be widened and the institutes converted to Government owned, but independent entities outside of any administrative control of ministries. 

The planning process and challenges associated with implementation of plans have to be widely discussed with grassroots growers and farmers and the plans freed from political manoeuvring and control. The contemporary idea and understanding about democracy itself and what it means, and importantly what it should mean is a subject that needs discussion but perhaps as a separate discussion. In essence, bottom-up consultation and decision making rather than top-down decision making should be the fundamental ethos of democracy if US President Abraham Lincoln’s much quoted but least practiced, especially in his own country the USA, “government of the people, by the people, for the people” is to become a truism.