Glyphosate debate: Who’s killing Ceylon Tea?
Glyphosate is a killer ( of weeds!!!). Proponents of the “Vasa Visa Nethi Ratak” (A country devoid of poisonous food) has been successful in getting the substance banned in Sri Lanka since the World Health Organization (WHO) reported it was possibly cancerous based on laboratory tests conducted on animals.
Smallholders and regional plantation companies ( RPCs) are searching for an alternative to the glyphosate herbicide, now banned in Sri Lanka over protests that it is cancerous and has an impact on the Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in the country.
But plantation companies and their smallholders surmise this is not the case and that it is being widely used all around the world in most developed nations.
So who’s right and who’s wrong? Should chemicals be used or should they be abandoned? Then again the broader question that looms over the estates is whether centuries-old plantations would withstand the tough tide of the glyphosate debate? Is the alternative organic farming?
The government got so bitterly embroiled in this sordid affair so much so that though the farmers never made a hue and cry the RPCs did that, and led to a 10- member Cabinet sub- committee being appointed to look into the possibility of allowing its use simply on the plantations alone.
These issues came out in the open at a discussion organised last week by the Presidential Secretariatappointed SEMA on the topic “Glyphosate Ban and the Future of the Tea Industry.”
Chemicals kill important small insects
Parliament MP Ven. Athuraliye Rathana, chief among those who believe the substance should not enter the local market, said that the micro-organisms in the soils were also killed alongside the weeds and blamed it on the use of chemicals like glyphosate.
He noted that without the use of these small insects the fertilizer required for the adequate nutrition generated by the soil itself was lost as a result of which the estate owners would then use another chemical to make the ground fertile.
His argument is that CKD is rampant in areas where this is widespread owing to water being contaminated with the glyphosate getting into the soil. In fact he pointed out that today the fresh water streams in Nuwara Eliya could not be openly consumed due to this contamination.
Ven. Rathana also questioned that since this was not a substance used by the smallholders who produced 75 per cent of the exports, whether the country should continue to allow glyphosate to be used on the tea plantations that contributed only 25 per cent of the total yield.
Prof. Ranil Senanayaka, who was also on the Cabinet sub-committee, said that as a former planter he was aware of the fact that the glyphosate when applied affects the lands and the grounds.
He claimed that the absence of micro-organisms was what contributed to ailments like diabetes and gastritis. “We need to preserve our health and our country,” he said.
Hapugastenne study
Findings of one study carried out on the “Affectivity of chemical weed control in commercial tea plantations” in the Hapugastenne Estate in Maskeliya by H. M. P. Peiris of the Postgraduate Institute of Science and S. P. Nissanka from the Department of Crop Science Faculty of Agriculture of the Peradeniya University states that over 20 weed species out of 23 acutely problematic weeds which cause great damage to tea crop, are entirely tolerant to Diurone, Paraquat and Glyphosate and cannot be controlled by using these herbicides.
This research was carried out to prove that there was an intense emergence of herbicide tolerant weed species on treated areas and that this crucial factor had remained unnoticed as a result of frequent manual weeding undertaken by the tea estates under various other accounts such as plucking fertilizer application, mossing and ferning green manure.
The investigation was carried out over a period of 24 months since 2012 at five different elevations with five replicates set at each elevation.
The study has also revealed that such weed species have the ability to turn a tea plantation into a totally unproductive and economically non-viable unit within a time period of one to two years depending on the herbicide tolerant weed species present.
It was noted that these weeds are capable of suppressing the growth of the tea bushes by making them stunted in growth with poor bush frames, turn the foliage yellowish and induce defoliation, unless they were removed completed by manual uprooting.
Moreover, the findings in this report revealed that the herbicides used in commercial tea plantations are greatly ineffective in weed control and their use cannot be justified when considering the associated cost involved along with the health hazards, ecological and environmental issues forged against them are considered.
Ceylon Tea a niche?
Prof. Piyasena, an academic and a tea smallholder, said that organic teas fetched higher prices since they were maintained through a manual workforce.
He believes that the tea industry can be converted to producing organic teas thereby dispelling fears of price fluctuations and constant problems encountered among large scale commercial teas.
The learned tea smallholder is the manufacturer of the brand of Ahinsa Organic Teas that he cultivates on his tea plantation.
But the world market consumption of organic teas is limited and stocks of this nature are in small supply a reason why the prices are attributed to be higher than other commercial teas that have been subject to a number of price fluctuations and constant problems. Organic teas, industry leaders note is a niche market and therefore fetches a high price due to the nature in which it is also manufactured. It is the simple principle of demand and supply where anything in short supply is high priced due to its demand.
Commercial tea manufacturers however, could not move into this segment of teas since the larger estates have problems of their own.
Going the distance
If there is one person 'fed up' of talking on behalf of the tea industry and the removal of the ban of glyphosate on the tea plantations it is the Plantations Ministry and its Minister Navin Dissanayake.
During his speech he pointed out they were ready to accept a solution if one was put forward but it was the haphazard removal of the product from the market that added to the problems on the estates.
The minister noted that the substance was banned even though it was not mentioned in the report as one that was meant to be.
He also explained that the CKD allegedly believed to be spreading is not considered a communicable disease and as such it could not travel to other parts of the country.
He also highlighted that the categorisation of glyphosate as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) under 2A meant it joined forces with a number of products also considered so but was freely available in the country and those which continued to be consumed. (See box)
The Cabinet sub- committee had noted that the ban of this substance had led to unavailability of effective herbicides leading to a number of experimenting with unauthorised herbicides; manual weeding adding to the cost of production; reduced use of fertilizer depressing the tea production further; tea production due to the above factors and the drought dropped by about 12 per cent in 2016.
Weeding manually amounts to 17 per cent of the cost of production on estates that already are pressured to pay relatively high wages to workers who are currently in short supply, Minister Dissanayake explained.
He said that what they were asking for was an exemption of about 8,000 litres to be imported for use on the tea plantations alone.
In fact, he asserted that though banned, the substance was still being brought down to the country from India by boat and then sent to Puttalam.
Minister Dissanayake noted that even he was with the government’s stance on the ban of chemicals but said that in order to get to that juncture “you need to be in agreement as well.”
But Health Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne addressing the officials denounced his colleague’s assertion stating that the ban on glyphosate was required until it is proved to be good.
He opined that despite the ban being imposed if the substance was still entering the local market then the problem should be averted without allowing it to continue. The minister added that the products on the 2A category were some items that doctors have advised their patients against consuming due to the health risks.
Another dead end?
The tea industry however, is not in agreement in fact just ahead of the start of the forum one official was overheard saying that he has been delivering umpteen number of presentations that are worth bringing down a container load of glyphosate!
Officials are tired of standing up for the tea industry that was not invited to the event to tell their side of the story and who have been vociferously accusing the authorities of overlooking an age old industry for the benefit of a few.
In fact, the last AGM of the Colombo Tea Traders Association brought out the issue highlighting how just one individual was holding a government and an entire industry to ransom based on their ideals.
Another industry spokesman told the Business Times that while practitioners were not allowed and not even informed (about this discussion) it was unfair how they had conducted the discussion with only the minister present to give their (tea) side of the story.
In fact, he pointed out that the substance continued to be used by tea smallholders who were also equally affected by the ban and that it was freely available in the country in a number of areas. In that he dismissed the accusation that only 25 per cent of the tea exports required this substance as believed by most learned advisors.