RPCs have dimmed confidence in the state: PA
Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) are concerned the future of the plantations sector could be grave due to the growing uneasiness by the state and the failure to keep to the “spirit of the agreement.”
“What we emphasise is the failure to keep to the spirit of the agreement reached between the government and the RPCs at the time of privatisation,” Planters Association(PA) Chairman Sunil Poholiyadde said at the recently held 164th AGM in Colombo where he was re-elected for another term.
The government is currently reviewing the lease agreements of the RPCs and carrying out extensive studies and audits on the plantations that were leased back in 1992 since there are concerns that some could be performing worse off today than when they started out.
He noted that there had been many “ad hoc decisions” taken in- between, which have undermined the confidence in each other which may impact adversely in the future.
Mr. Poholiyadde noted with concern that he was hopeful that the companies would be able to execute their rights as mentioned in the indenture of lease since almost 29 more years are remaining in the current agreement.
He also explained that companies needed to be aware of the future of the industry, and expect an extension to the current lease agreement as the remaining period would not even cover one life span of a crop.
The Planters chief said that it was time to look at a new model for wages of workers and base it on the productivity model. The time for the drafting of the next collective agreement is scheduled to close by next month and it is believed that the unions are also looking favourably at this new model.
Tea prices that improved last year to record high levels of Rs.600 to Rs.700 were said to have started to decline and is cur- rently at an average of approximately Rs.550.
He attributed the reasons behind the drop as being the issue with Russia suspecting tea being contaminated due to a beetle present in one of the stocks; Japan identifying high chemical residue levels following the ban on glyphosate; sanctions on Iran; and trade issues with Turkey.
The delay in importing glyphosate was also stressed at the meeting and Mr. Poholiyadde noted that they were yet to receive the first consignment and hoped that matters would be resolved by mid- October to avoid any further issues with regard to exports in the future.
The Chairman also commended the plantations that were currently engaged in the adoption of mechanisation of the estates and pointed out that some companies had also undertaken trials with drones for spraying while many other have already implemented mecahnisation of harvesting, pruning and other agricultural practices such as draining.
Chief Guest at the AGM Labour Minister Ravindra Samaraweera urged planters to adopt novel methods and strategies to retain the “invaluable human capital for the benefit of the industry”.
He hoped that the discussions on the Collective Agreement would be concluded early and pointed out that mechanisms should be in place to ensure higher productivity and efficiency on the estates.
In this respect, Mr. Samaraweera called for “new and innovative” models of planting, harvesting as well as revenue sharing.
Asserting that the Fourth Industrial Revolution (digitalisation) was in the offing and posed challenges to the industry, he asked the planters to take advantage of the opportunities available and engage in automation and digitalisation to improve productivity on the plantations.