Sri Lanka Tea Factory Owners Association to hold AGM on October 19

On October 19, 2019, the Sri Lanka Tea Factory Owners Association (SLTFOA) is to hold its 29th annual general meeting (AGM), at Waters Edge.

The keynote address will be given by Plantation Industries Minister Navin Dissanayake, whilst the guest of honour would be Uva Wellessa University founder and first Vice Chancellor Dr. Chandra Embuldeniya, in the presence of ministers, parliamentarians and heads of stakeholder associations of the tea industry.

The SLTFOA, established in 1990, has a membership exceeding about 300 members spread out in the Galle, Matara, Kalutura/ Matugama, Ratnapura, Balangoda and Kandy /Gampola Districts. These different districts come under the umbrella of branch chairmen. The SLTFOA is presently headed by Harith Ranasinghe, who is a veteran tea planter and manufacturer.

The SLTFOA business matters are administered by an executive committee, which meets monthly. The members of this committee are elected annually, district wise, at the AGM.

The primary objective of the SLTFOA, which is a non-political independent body, is to promote, foster and protect the tea industry. The industry is catered mainly by the tea smallholder farmers, who are responsible in producing approximately 80 percent of the national tea production, the largest volume of tea, which is consumed by millions world over as ‘Ceylon Tea’.

The members of the association cater almost exclusively to the tea smallholder population in manufacturing their green leaf and providing services such as advisory and extension, supply of input materials as fertiliser, their welfare, etc., including loans and cash advances on the supply of green leaf.

The association is proud to be serving today’s estimated extent of smallholdings, which is around 138,900 hectares, contributed by about 400,000 smallholders and approximately two million people directly or indirectly employed and has further plans to rake in all the private factories countrywide under its umbrella to improve and serve the smallholders more efficiently for sustenance.

The chairman of the association or his nominee is the member in the boards of Sri Lanka Tea Board, National Institute of Plantation Management, Tea Small Holdings Authority, Tea Research Board and Employers’ Federation of Ceylon. The association holds the status of an affiliated position in the Colombo Tea Traders Association.