PA urges all stakeholders to work towards a fair deal for Ceylon Tea

The Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PA) marked International Tea Day, with a call to all policymakers and stakeholders to take a holistic and practical approach ensuring a sustainable way forward for the industry, while ensuring that producers of Pure Ceylon Tea are given a fair deal.

In alignment with the theme of this year’s International Tea Day celebration: “Tea and Fair Trade”, the PA called on the entire trade – including all Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs), as well as the State-owned and smallholder sectors and factory owners, traders, exporters– to focus on enhancements across the supply chain, in order to carve out a sustainable way forward for the sector.

Like all others in the commercial agricultural sector locally and globally, Sri Lanka’s tea sector faces immense challenges on all fronts in 2021. Moving forward it is clear that every single aspect of the industry will have to be re-evaluated, and where necessary and practical, new thinking and strategies will have to be implemented in a scientific manner.

This covers everything from crop and soil management to climate change, related socio-economic models, to processing, quality control, value addition, and export diversification, as well as the role that emerging technology will play in enhancing competitiveness.

Sri Lankan RPCs have continuously set global benchmarks in each of these areas and continue to explore avenues for improvement.