Trouble brewing for Sri Lanka tea farmers

Small-time farmers are a vital component in Sri Lanka's tea industry, the country's largest foreign exchange earning commodity, and the authorities are taking their plight seriously.

An hour's drive along a narrow road through hill slopes is Sri Lanka's Tea Research Institute, which is trying to develop new types of drought-resistant tea bushes.

“There was frost damage on the crop earlier this year,” said TRI director Sarath Abeysinghe. “It was frosty early in the morning and very dry and hot during the day. It could be attributed to global climate change. We can't predict the weather anymore.”

The TRI is using artificial pollination to develop cultivars from the tea bush, botanically known as Camellia sinensis, to withstand harsh weather, but coming up with a successful variety could take decades.

He said the distinctive aromatic flavour of tea usually produced in the mountainous regions during February and March had been ruined by the drought.

The teas, known as Dimbula, are hot sellers among buyers in Japan and Germany.

“There have been times when we were not able to get a quality season because of the erratic weather,” he said. “But this year has been worse.”

The chief plant breeder at the TRI, Kumudini Gunasekare, said drought resistant cultivars are being developed by her team to address the new issue of climate change.

“Earlier we were concentrating mainly on enhancing yields — drought was not an issue then — but we are now focusing on drought-tolerant varieties,” Gunasekare said.

World tea prices have risen by about 35 percent in the past year and supermarket prices are set to rise another 10 percent in June, but small farmers in Sri Lanka who account for more than two thirds of the country's production have not benefited.

Sri Lanka earned a record US$1.23 billion from tea exports in 2008 thanks to the global commodity boom in the first half last year, but the party is now over.

The drought means that the subsistence farmers will not benefit from the rising prices and the troubles ahead are not something they can forget with a refreshing cup of tea.

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