Through the export of the five plantation crops of tea, rubber, coconut, cinnamon and pepper, the export income received by the country during the period from January to April 2024 has increased to 1118.06 million USD.

During the period from January to April 2023, the export income earned from these plantation crops is 884.6 million USD. Accordingly, in the first four months of last year, it has been possible to earn an income of 234 million USD more than the export income in the first four months of this year.

A discussion on the progress of Sri Lanka’s plantation sector was held yesterday (29) at the Ministry of Agriculture and Plantation Industry where these facts were revealed. In this discussion chaired by the Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industries, Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera, the fertilizer subsidy given to tea and coconut plantations was discussed.

It was decided to double the current subsidy of 2000 rupees to promote fertilizer application for tea plantations. Accordingly, steps were taken to increase the tea fertilizer subsidy to 4000 rupees. The Sri Lanka Tea Board has allocated an amount of 2000 million rupees for this subsidy.

It was decided to increase the fertilizer subsidy given to tea plantations as well as to start a program of reconstructions of roads in tea plantations. The minister Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera emphasized that the quality of the tea will be damaged due to the difficulties in the roads in transporting the tea leaves to the factories.

Accordingly, Minister Mahinda Amaraweera instructed the Sri Lanka Tea Board to immediately start a program to reconstruct the roads that have not been renovated for a long time in the tea estates using the money allocated by the Sri Lanka Tea Board.

The discussion was attended by the Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Janaka Dharmakeerthi, and Chairman of Sri Lanka Small Tea Estate Development Authority Mr. A.M. H. L. Abeyratne and Chairman of Sri Lanka Tea Board Mr. Niraj de Mal also participated.