A livewire behind Coconut Growers Association

A dynamic, committed, and caring person loved by all: That would be Ranjith Dias in brief.

I met Ranjith about seven years ago at the monthly meetings of the Coconut Growers Association of Sri Lanka’s Ex-Co which were held at the National Chamber of Commerce in Colombo. He was a founder member of the Association which counts for 29 years of service. He had served the organisation as office bearer in all functions including as President.

In 2022 he requested that he be relieved of his duties as the Editor of the “Newsletter” that he took much pride in producing, quite often writing most of the content. He would ensure that it was printed and posted every quarter to all the members. The newsletter is a great source of information to all growers and quite often growers would call Ranjith for more information and clarification on a particular subject, and he always had time to talk to them. Not only that, he also called them and made sure that they had read the newsletter. He was well acquainted with the membership.

He was also well acquainted with the tea planting community, having worked at Brown and Co. for 25 years providing tea manufacturing machinery and being a specialist on tea dryers. He then had another 20 years at Colombo Commercial Company in the same field.

He would always participate in the activities of the Coconut Research Institute and the Coconut Cultivation Board extension programmes. He made it a point to visit outstation branches in Jaffna, Batticaloa and Matara.

There was never a dull moment in his company. When I visited him on his estate, as usual he would have lunch prepared and a chilled beer as a starter. He and his wife Nirmala were very hospitable with an open house, always ready to entertain.

Ranjith had his education at St Joseph’s College Colombo. He was very involved in church and parish activities being a member of the Parish Council. He lived a full life.