Estates in crisis due to fuel shortage – Planters’ Association

25 per cent drop in production feared

By Nalaka Rathnayaka

A million people employed in the tea sector might lose jobs if the government doesn’t provide adequate stocks of diesel and petrol to plantation companies, Planters Association Spokesman Dr. Roshan Rajadurai says.

He said that plantations needed large amounts of fuel to operate machinery and transport purposes.

“Due to power cuts, we need to run generators. A million people are directly and indirectly working in the tea industry. If the tea industry collapses, workers will lose employment and the country a great deal of foreign earnings.

Rajadurai added that they had estimated a production drop of about 25 percent by the end of this year. Between January and April this year 86,232 tonnes of tea were produced. The amount produced during the corresponding period last year was 299,338 tonnes, he said.

“If we can’t meet the demand, buyers will switch to India and Kenya. When we go to gas stations near the estates, people who had been in the queues attempt to stop us. Then we can’t get fuel. If the CPC can send us fuel directly, we have facilities to store them,” he said.

Rajadurai said that in recent months, a large number of plantation workers have gone overseas in search of jobs. Meanwhile, a lot of estate sector youth are not interested in working on estates, he said.In recent months, a large number of estate youth who migrated to urban areas in search of employment had returned due to the economic crisis. “However, they are not interested in working on estates, and there is a severe labour shortage,” Rajadurai said.