Pest Attacks

We never thought that the innocent looking multicoloured locust is such a menace in the garden. All evidence proved that inhabitance of Yellow Spotted Locust at abundance threatens the banana and pepper plantations.

Yellow Spotted Locust

Yellow Spotted Locust, has been in existence in Sri Lanka since 1898, but was not hitherto reported as a threat. But it is reportedly multiplying at an alarming rate within last few years. Surviving solely on greens, it attacks all plants without discrimination. We have seen thousands of this unknown locust on grass in late June and first few weeks of July in our garden, but didn't notice any harm until mid July.

Locust Eating a Banana Leaf

The workers noticed the swarms of locusts eating banana leaves and leaving skeletons of leaves within days.

Skeletons of Banana Leaves

The research on this pest reveals that changing weather conditions and land use patterns have brought about a gradual increase over the years. "These unusual weather conditions and climatic changes have provided a good base for these insects to breed".

Immediately I contacted Agricultural Department of Sri Lanka and talked to agricultural experts to get some information on how to control it. "The only option is to kill the insects. One has to kill them before they reach the breeding stage by either burning their nests or by using insecticides. But insecticide specified for this purpose could be hazardous to the people in the area leaving fire as the only option."

When I went to the garden, the locusts are few in number. With the help of my tappers, we started collecting them into a bucket of water. Surprisingly, they survived in the water for a whole day.

Locusts in the Water

Killing a living being is the last thing a Buddhist wants to do! My tappers refused to harm them. Ultimately it was left to me, and in fear of losing our banana plantation I had to destroy them all. We also searched the garden to kill the rest.

The last thing in our mind is the application of pesticides, which we are scared to do. We already noticed that some insectivores birds feeding on locusts. We are hoping to apply integrated approach for pest control more ecologically and environmentally sustainable way by raising few free ranging chickens.

Intercropping Tea with Rubber

The tappers have counted all the rubber trees in the 10 acres of our garden. There are 960 trees in our Estate. The average tree density of rubber is about 160 trees. Whereas ours is 96, that is nearly 60% of the tree density of an average rubber plantation.

 Our Rubber Plantation in a Misty Day

The low tree density has both advantages and disadvantages. The direct impact is the low yeild per acre. We cannot expect more than 30 kilos of daily avarge yeild from the pentire plantation. That is less than 20 kilos of our initial expectation.

The great advantage is the possibility of intercropping. Intercropping is promoted recenly in monocrops like rubber and tea to increase the productivity of the land in order to diversify income sources and increase the potential income. Intercropping will also help to generate income particularly during rainny periods.

The biggest disadvantage for multicropping in rubber estates is lack of sunlight within the plantation for other crops to grow. The thick foliage cover of the crown prevents sunlight filtering to the grond. This prevents possibility of growing other crops in the ground. Although the rubber smallholders have tried growing tea, pineapples and bananas in rubber plantations of Sri Lanka, multicropping is often failed due to lack of sunlight in the rubber estates. Ours is a blessing in disguise.

Poor State of the Tea Plantation

The main intercrop of our Estate is tea. We have a nearly an one acre of tea plantation, which is nearly five years old. It has also been severely neglected without weeding, proning and fertilizing. We are blessed with our tappers, they have got all the knowledge and experience to maintain the tea plantation and to manage/develop it further.

Overgrown Tea Bush

Our tappers work in the tea plantation every afternoon, weeding, proning and fertilizing the trees. Weeding is a tedious task. Weeding needs to be done manually, pulling out all the grass and weed under the rows of trees. They cut overgrown branches with a knife specially made for proning tea plants. One may think that weeding increases soil erosion. But the tea bushes work as a perfect cover to prevent direct rains hitting the bare soil. Besides the weeded vegeration is placed between rows to decay.

Rows of Tea Bushes: Main Intercrop of Our Estate

They prone the tea bush to a height of 1.5 ft from the ground. Once the weeding and proning is completed, they will fertilize the trees to increase the leaf production. The tea plantations are fertilized during the drizzles, July is the ideal time for fertilizing. We are in the process of upgrading the condition of our little tea plantation!

Desperate Times...

Our smoke house was burgled three weeks ago! I belive it is more of a sabotage activity.

Few days before the incident, two drunken villagers who worked in our garden had told the Builder that I had not paid them well. The truth is that I had paid more than what they deserve, but the cunning villagers wanted more and more with no or less work. There were nearly 60 rubber sheets in the smoke house, only 19 sheets were stolen. They have broken the door and taken the sheets away.

If it was a thief, he would have taken the whole lot away. That is why I think that it is a mear act of sabotage, just to teach me a lesson. I was very disappointed. By that time, I didn't earn a single cent from the Estate. It was raining heavily during the months of March and April. Most villagers didn't have any work duirng that time. They had their food because of the money they got by working for me.

We need to look after what we have. We stock piled our rubber in Builder's house after this incident. I hate to depend on others, but I am helpless. But when we tap the whole garden, the area over the hearth of their kitchen will not be adequate. How I wish that my husband is with me, just to take care of the garden and its yeild! The workers who are constructing the house, wonder around unproductively. They don't want to complet the house soon, because it will dry out their income source.  I have none to supervise the work during the weekdays.

We don't have a place to live, I am so desparate to complete our house. The house we rented has a leaky roof, bat, rat and ant infested smelly bedroom, where we sleep on the bare floor. The roof over the kitchen and bathroom is very much decayed, don't know what time it falls on our heads. Last week we didn't have water too. I hate to spend nights there. In this circumstance, I think we need to give up the idea of building a spacious house, because of the labour problem and expenses we have to bear constantly. Against all these odds, I like our Estate very much. It sooths my dying sole...

Misconceptions about Rubber Harvesting

Harvesting rubber is a tricky business. You can never do realistic estimates going by average daily yeild by acre (0.40 hectare). That is one mistake we did when we bought the land. There are so many factors affecting on the daily yeild; the age of the plantation, size of the tree trunks, fertility of land, way of tapping and period of tapping. We had no idea that rubber trees need to be tapped continuously to train the trees to produce more latex.

During the period of the land transaction, our plantation was not tapped over nearly three months. When we started tapping in early last May, it was a nightmare. The trees refused to produced latex. It took nearly 10 days of tapping to bring the plantation to a level of decent yield. At the end of May and the first week of June 2011, we had monsoon rains. When we restarted tapping after 14 days, we had to start the production from square one; the yield followed the similar pattern. But this time come back period is shorter than the previous time; it was 6 days of continuous tapping.

When we tap the plantation more and more, I hope that we will be getting a decent harvest close to an average daily yield of 8 kg per acre. Conservatively we are expecting a daily yield of 5 kgs per acre. Given the size of some trees and length of the period with no fertilizing, we have to expect a modest yield from our plantation.

Our trees had been tapped so badly over last five years. The trees were damaged and neglected. The trees were not fertilized nearly 7 years. What can we expect from  such a plantation at our early stage of tapping? Isn't it give and take business? We need to take care of our plantation, before we expect something in return.

Letter from Son to Dad

My son Ewan is just six  years old. One year ago we left New Zealand because of my work commitments. We left his dad at home.  It was a terrible separation. We have never been away from each other. We miss each other terribly. The most affected is my son; the little fellow misses his dad very much. My husband plans to come next month, still days are too long and we are counting the days. 

Ewan the Bike Rider at the Age of Five (Just before we left for Sri Lanka)

Here is a scanned copy of the first letter my son wrote to his dad. You cannot convince a six year old to write the way you want. The letter starts from the bottom.  It tells you the whole story...

Ewan's First Letter to Dad

After reading the letter, the Dad was very emotional. Oh, we terribly miss him every moment.

We left New Zealand for a purpose. We both had very good jobs; me working in the University of Auckland and him working as a Network Engineer. We have a house in South Auckland. But we were frustrated. I have been away from my parents for 10 years, that was too long and I was too emotional. We also could not save much. Without family and friends around, the life was monotonous and meaningless.

Most of all, Year 2009 was a turning point for us. My husband went through three heart surgeries. We were lonely not knowing how to cope, without the family around. I also wanted to give a chance for my husband to change his lifestyle. When the opportunity came to undertake this consultancy, I garbed it. Ewan and I left New Zealand at the very end of May 2010, precisely on 31st of May 2010. We left husband there. It was a very drastic decision on any body's standard. But I had my determination to make it. 

After one year of our departure, when we turn back, we made it the way we want, but at an emotional cost. It drained us out. When my husband joins us next month, we can conclude this unfinished emotional story with a happy end...   

Tree

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

~Joyce Kilmer, "Trees," 1914~

The Big Day

Yesterday the 9th of June 2011, we signed the deeds of the Walpolakanda Estate. The seller gave up his rights to the land in fornt of my lawyer . Two people witnessed it.

It was a big event for me. As my husband was away, I was all alone. But my husband talked to me over the phone and assured that he was with me through out the whole thing. At the end of the day, I was relieved, but I felt lonely. What a long and hard journey that I had all alone!    

Monsoon Rains of Sri Lanka

The inter-monsoonal rains lashed out with no mercy yesterday morning ending hot, humid weather prevailed during last few weeks. The heavy rain poured down like a bucket of water fell down from the sky amidst of thunders and lightening. It was same today too. I was reluctant to drop my son to the school in the heavy rain. But the rain is an integral part of the life in Sri Lanka.

Rainfall of Sri Lanka is mainly influenced by its geographical location. Sri Lanka is situated in the North Indian Ocean, just southeast of the southern tip of the Indian sub continent, lies between 6 °N and 10 °N latitude and between 80 °E and 82 °E longitude. The highlands, mostly above 300 meters, occupy the south central part of Sri Lanka with numerous peaks (Pidurutalagala -2524m, Kirigalpotte - 2396m), high plateaus and basins and are surrounded by an extensive lowland area. The central part of the island is the source of the major rivers of the country, numbering over a hundred, which flow across the lowlands into the Indian Ocean. Total area of Sri Lanka is 65610 sq km. The maximum length and width of the Island is 435 km and 225 km respectively.

Sri Lanka receives a relatively high average rainfall due to its tropical and monsoonal climate. Rainfall of the Island is highly variable seasonally and spatially creating periodic shortages of water for both agricultural and domestic use.  There are four major rainy seasons in Sri Lanka;

• North-East monsoon from December to February
• South-West monsoon from May to September
• First inter-monsoon from March to April
• Second inter-monsoon from October to November.

Out of which, South-West monsoon from May to September and North-East monsoon from December to February are the major rainy seasons that bring rains to the Island.

During the South-West monsoons, the southwestern part of Sri Lanka receives a significantly high rainfall averaging around 5080mm annually. Being situated in the western part of the country, our rubber estate: Walpolakanda is badly affected by the South-Western monsoons of this year. The rain is still continuing and the production is badly affected by rains. The southwestern monsoon in this year started a little late, on 24th of May and it is still pouring down for last two weeks. We had 15 tapping days in May, but we could only tap just two days in this month. The rain is gradually reducing and we hope the weather favours us in comming weeks.

More about Rubber

Rubber Leaves

The botanical name of the Para rubber tree is Hevea brasiliensis. The  tree belongs to the family Euphorbiaceae. This tree is an important member of the genus Hevea. It is of major economic importance because its sap-like extract (known as latex) can be collected and is the primary source of natural rubber.

Rubber Fruit

Rubber Seeds

Rubber tree is native to Brazil, and found only in the Amazon Rainforest. Increasing demand for rubber and the discovery of the vulcanization procedure in 1839 led to a boom in that region, enriching the cities of Manaus and Belém. An attempt was made in 1873, to grow rubber outside Brazil. Seeds were exported from the lower Amazon area of Brazil to London UK by Henry Wickham, a local planter acting for the British Government. After some effort, twelve seedlings were germinated at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in England. Once established outside its native country, rubber was extensively propagated in the British colonies.

The rubber tree was introduced to Sri Lanka in 1875. The first rubber tree was planted in Henarathgoda Botanic Garden of Gampaha district in 1876, but the tree was uprooted by a cyclone in 1988.  Efforts to cultivate the tree in its native South America were unsuccessful. Today most rubber plantations are found in Southeast Asia particularly in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

The Road: Our Frustration

I am frustrated!

It was so hard to arrange a vehicle to transport material to the building site. Last week, I hired a tractor to transport one cubic meter of river sand and 15 bags of cement . He took three turns to transport sand just one kilometer distance to the site. He demanded Rs 1750 per turn, which is quite unfair. When I think back, all the trucks and tractors we have hired so far have charged us excessively. They all say that the road is so bad that they have to charge a big fee to transport material to the site.

Heavily Washed Off Section of the Road

Yes, the road is bad only about 300m, the other section is carpeted or flat land where road is not damaged. How I hate to know that out of desperation, I had to pay a higher fee for transportation!

Rock Paved Section of the Road

I am determined to put the stop to this malpractice. The three wheeler (tuk tuk) drivers are the same. Last week, my mom, son and I wanted to hire a three wheeler to go to the Estate. There were nearly ten three wheelers in the park, but they said that they were not willing to go up. One guy agreed, but all three of us had to walk along the road, beside the three wheeler, which went up only with our bags.  I had to pay Rs 300 just for the empty three wheeler that went up.

Concreted Section of the Road

 I have a feeling that the three wheel drivers and truck owners in the area have ganged up altogether to raise the fee, citing the bad condition of the road as the reason for higher charges. They have created a monopolistic situation out of the misery that the villagers face due to the bad condition of the road. A lot of villagers cannot afford to repair or build their houses due to the difficulties of transporting construction material. I am thinking hard to find a way to get the road repaired. Perhaps I need to approach politicians to urge them to repair the road.

Roads: Prerequisit for the Rural Development

Have you ever thought how important roads are to take development to the remote areas? Until you get the first hand experience in a remote hilly region, you won't understand how important roads are for the day to day lives of villagers in those remote areas. You got to carry everything (from food to construction material) miles and miles until you are breathless and collapsed due to tiredness. Even you are sick, there is no other way to come down other than walking to look for medical help. I don't know how villagers handle medical emergencies in these areas. It gives me a shiver to think how fatal it could be for a pregnent mother to go to labour in the middle of the night. Perhaps the villagers are used to the above circumstance and adapting the local methods to cope up the situation.

Roads are an essential infrastructure to bring the development to the remote regions. The Government of Sri Lanka is all going out to develop its road network. Although some people criticize the government action I am fully supportive knowing how essential it is for the lives of masses. Besides, how could I work in the same field if I don't see how important the roads are to the community?

When I came back to Sri Lanka after ten long years in New Zealand, what I witnessed was a horrible condition of the road network. It was shocking to see how bad the roads were with huge potholes and clogged side drains. Although there is an influx of cars in recent times the road network has not been widened and improved to accommodate more vehicles.

Dehiowita Pradeshiya Sabha area is the second largest Pradeshiya Sabha area in the country. While the trunk roads have been improved, the local road network is not yet developed, particularly in the hilly areas. Unfortunately our rubber estate is situated in one of those remote areas. As nearly a kilometer distance to the road is not motorable, due to the bad condition of the road, it costs us a fortune to transport building material to the site. Finding a suitable vehicle that can travel along the hilly and raggedy road is a daunting task. Each time when we hire a vehicle, we are to keep few people standby in case the vehicle needs a support for pushing upward. This makes the construction work difficult. I wonder how the villagers carried bags of cement and other heavy construction material to higher elevations to build their houses! I feel the remoteness and rural character are still preserved as the area is not motorable. When we looked for the rubber lands, we found that the land prices were quite low due to this reason.

Concreted Section of the Raod

The villages said that they had only a footpath a few years ago. Now they have a 15 ft wide road which has been paved halfway through. Despite all these difficulties, the villagers are happy of what they have already got. What I heard is the villagers collectively improved their road by paving it. It needs more support for these people. Although the labour is available, they need material support to build the rest of the road. The politicians come and go, new administrations are set up in local governments with newly appointed politicians, but the problems of the villages are still unsolved…

Monsoon Rains...

Sky is dark,
Heavy with the clouds...
It's going to rain soon,
I have no doubts...

Rustling and bustling
the leaves in the air ...
Wind is howling
Swinging the trees
from here to there...

Darker the evening
And Colder the air...
Rain lashed out
With lightning and thunder!
Making me scare...

Building Our Future Home

Our land is quite far from Colombo to drive daily. It is around 50km away from where we living in Colombo. There are two routes that we can take. The Low level Road via Kaduwela and Hunwella is the shorter route which is around 47km. The road is quite narrow, but takes a long time to go due to slow moving traffic. The High Level road is the longer route which is around 55km to the land. The road is wide and carpeted and traffic moves smoothly. I love to drive in this route. The story does not end from there.

The Debegama - Napawala Road is not motorable. We have to walk along this hilly road nearly one kilometer. The villagers have concreted half of of the road with the help of the local authority. But still, nearly a 500m long section of the road is left which is not motorable. Due to the absence of side drains, rain water flows along the muddy road surfacing rocks and forming ridges in the middle. Walking along this difficult road is a daunting task. We have to walk 200m more along our private road to go to the Estate. The 12ft wide private road is ours and it was previously used to transport rocks from the quarry operated in our Estate.

Building a house was not in our plans. We first thought of renting out a house nearby. But the old house that we found was infested with various kinds of insects including few types of ants. I am afraid to keep my five year old son, Ewan; in the insects infested, muddy, cold and soggy old house. We really don't want to sleep on the bare floor and walk in the wet and muddy floor after hard works of a long day. My mom complains all the time about ants and rat infested kitchen that has a leaky roof. After thinking hard, I decided to build a house for us.

First we thought of using the half built concrete structure to form a one bedroom house with bare minimum facilities. But we found that the old structure was in ruin. We want our house to be cozy, warm and comfortable place for us to live. At the end, the plan for the one bedroom cottage house was changed to a three roomed cottage.

Old half- built Concrete Structure

I went to the Estate yesterday with my sister, brother and cousin brother to start building the new house. Here in Sri Lanka, people are very superstitious when it comes to building houses. They believe the effect of planetary positions on you and your house. The magnetic and electric energy patterns in plant earth will be influenced by the other planetary positions. In order to absorb positive energies from universe, the shape of your house and its directions are important concerns.  In order to draw positive energy from the universe, you need to draw the right design which is specific to one's birth chart and needs to have an entrance to the right direction. A house is started to build at a positive time (auspicious time) after performing religious activities. We didn't want to deviate from this common, well established practice. Yesterday, on 27th of April 2011 at 9.11am, we started building our house ceremoniously. Here are some photos of yesterday's ceremony.

The Builder Performing Rituals at the Building Site

Place Dedicated to Deities

Offering to Deities

Helpers Cutting the Foundation

Removing the Trees from Building Site

Providing Basic Facilities for Workers

The rubber trees of our Estate was tapped for last five years. The quarry was also in operation until last year. I wonder how people worked there without basic sanitary facilities.

The mud hut is in a delapidated condition where it needs repairs immediately. The roof is leaky in many places, the timbers in the main frame are rot, the clay walls are full of holes and the floor is uneven and covered with dust. I am in a hurry to cover holes in the walls, make the floor flat and repair the roof before workers come for work.

The biggest issue is the absence of facilites. The toilet is now under construction. As the weather is quite bad with heavy rians during the afternoons, I don't know how long it would take to complete the constuction work.

There is another half built concrete structure that we need to repair. I have got a plan prepared for a two roomed house.  The construction work starts at an auspicious time on 27th April. Hope everything goes well in the Estate as planned.

Running the Estate at a High Risk

We could not still resolve the problems with tappers. The working family who promised to work in the Estate did not tern up on the Sunday morning. I am so frastrated and helpless, but keep on looking for people.

The decendants of the Indian Tamils who were brought to Sri Lanka to work in the plantation estates are the professional tappers in the big plantation estates. They are being provided housing and a daily wage of Rs. 410.00 (US $ 4.00) for tapping for a day. Because of heavy rains duirng the months of April and May, the income for workers in rubber plantations drastically dropps. But, in addition to tapping, the estates make sure that they are getting a resonable monthly income through manual work such as weeding .

The estate houses are overcrowded with extended family members. The younger generations of the estate workers often look for nontraditional work outside the estates mostly in service sector. Some of them are unhappy members of extended families who look for work at a higher wages. The family that we were looking for belongs to this catagory. Despite of our promises of providing better housing and high wages, they let us down. I think the main reason is my waring agaist the alcoholism. Most of men in the estate families are adicted to alcohol. No matter where they live, the want to drink locally distilled licqure every evening. With this bitter lesson of experience, now I understand that finding non-alcoholic workers is not possible in Sri Lanka.

It rains heavily everyday. Even tappers are brought, they won't be able to tap the rubber trees during this period. The money I have at hand is draining out to improve workers' quaters and to provide the sanitary facilities before the arrival of workers.  I am very desperate with the prevailing weather and my inability to find tappers.

Smallholders in Plantation Management

Where more than 70 percent of total world rubber production comes from Southeast Asia which includes countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka; more than twenty million smallholders grow rubber. The farmers in Sri Lanka who hold lands extending from 0.5 to 20 ha (1 to 50 acres) belong to the smallholders. The rubber small holders in Sri Lanka have been contributing significantly to the national production. Their contribution in 2008 had been 71.7 percent of the national production, while the contribution of Regional Plantation Companies (RPC) was 26 percent.

While the large scale plantations had undergone significant structural changes in mid 1990s, due to underperformance as state-owned entities; the smallholding sector thrived in Sri Lanka particularly in tea plantations contributing substantially to the economy by achieving close to international standards. However, it was found that the progress of rubber smallholder development was less than the achievements of large scale rubber plantation development. The productivity of rubber smallholdings of Sri Lanka is in the region of 1,290 kg/ha where as in Malaysia it is around, 1,330 to 1,440 and in Indonesia it is in the range of 1,250 to 1,500 kg/ha.

The majority of rubber smallholders are still so poor in the regions, in spite of the fact that the world rubber prices are significantly high. The situation of smallholders is same in Sri Lanka. Farmers still use low agricultural technologies such as low yielding clones, indigenous practices and lack of management strategies in their production systems. They are inefficient in decision-making processes, have very little initiative in innovations, and a low level of education.

The rubber smallholders in Sri Lanka face the following problems;

·         Lack of proper institutional and policy frameworks,

·         Lack of directions and education about the availability of resources and information,

·         Nature of peasant type of production,

·         Lack of information and knowledge about high yielding clones and improved management practices and production systems,

·         Lack of soil fertility improvements

·         Lack of market orientation

·         Reliance on traditional technology, family labour and management.

The smallholders need to pay more attention to improve soil fertility, farming system and management and soil fertility for specific crops. They are required to maintain quality of product that affects the farm income. They need to apply manure and grow cover crops to improve soil fertility. In order to increase the yield, the smallholders need to use high-yielding clones. As smallholders normally use any clone that is readily available to them at the time of planting, it needs to make available high yielding clones that are appropriate for specific areas, and improve their knowledge of clone selection.

 

Plantations in Sri Lanka

Agro-climatic Zones of Sri Lanka

Tea, rubber and coconut are the main cash crops in Sri Lanka.  Rubber is grown in low country wet and intermediate zones, while tea is grown in mid country and up country wet zones predominantly at higher elevations. Coconut is grown in low country wet and intermediate zones. Both plantation companies and small holders are involved in producing cash crops in the country. The total land extent utilized for the plantation sector is about 750,000 hectares. The direct and indirect employment generated through the sector is about 1.5 million. It also plays a significant role in the national economy in terms of its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In 2007, the GDP contribution by plantation sector is 2.7%.

Most of the plantations in Sri Lanka particularly tea and rubber were originally started by the British during the colonial period in 17th century. Tea plantations were created by the British colonial state in 1860s. Land was acquired for almost nothing, when the local people showed indifference to work in the plantations; cheap slave-type labour was brought from South India. They were run efficiently and profitably by the British owned plantation companies and were significant contributors to the economy and to the government by way of taxes.

After independence in 1948, under the socialist Government manifesto introduced in 1970, the foreign owned plantations were nationalised under the Land Reform Low No.39 of 1975. During nearly two decades of state ownership and management, the performance of the plantations was disappointing.The productivity of the plantations dropped drastically due to the lack of skills in management, enprenurialship and motivation while small holdings and privately owned estates in other competitive countries recorded better performance. The crisis of the plantation sector deepened due toThe cumulative loss of the Janatha Estate Development Board (JEDB) and Sri Lanka State Plantation Corporation (SLSPC) from 1980 to 1991 was Rs.2,283 million by running the estates at a loss. The two corporations owed the Bank of Ceylon and the People's Bank a sum of over Rs. 3,500 million. There was no way the JEDB and the SLSPC could repay these loans and the Treasury had to find the money to settle these huge debts to the banks. The bulk of the money comes from various indirect taxes in the prices of essential goods such as rice, flour, and sugar.  The stated wanted to eliminate their dependence on Treasury subsidies to make more money available for social welfare measures and infrastructure development work and to reduce the burdens that were being heaped on the poor people as high cost of living.

In early 1990's, the government took a policy decision to handover the management of the plantations to the private sector. In June 1992, with pressure of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, and in recognition of the poor performance of plantations under state (national) ownership, the government initiated a partial privatisation of the sector. Management contracts were issued to commercial interests, while national ownership of land was retained. In 1995, following a change in government, full privatisation of state plantations was commenced. This was the largest agricultural privatization in the world.  

Problems with Tappers

Rubber tapping is the process by which rubber is gathered. An incision is made in the bark of a rubber tree. The fluid then drains into a latex cup, usually made out of a coconut shell. Early in the morning the rubber tapper remove the thin layer of bark along a downward half spiral on the tree trunk. If done carefully and with skill, this tapping panel will yield latex for up to 5 years. Then the opposite side will be tapped allowing this side to heal over. The spiral allows the latex to run down to a collecting cup. Around 10.00am in the morning, the tappers start collecting latex to a can to take it to a hall to make rubber sheets.

For a good tapping, you must:

• Make a good cut
• Harvest the latex well
• Harvest the latex at the right time.

Tapping is a work undertaken by experineced tappers. It consists of several sub-tasks performed on daily basis: tapping the bark, making the path for collection, collecting latex, making and smoking the rubber sheets is a long process, that needs to be handled by experinced and skilled workforce. It does not end up there. Maintance of the plantation includes marking of trees for tapping at correct height and side, applying chemical for bark rejuanation, and fertilizer applications are the periodic tasks. Having experienced and skilled tappers are a key to maintain a good rubber estate.

The two women tappers we had did n't meet our tapping standards. The barks were wounded and trees were tapped at many places at irregular intervals. The wounded barks are an eyesore. We did not want our much loved plantation to go to ruins in few years time. We took a firm decision to get rid of the old bagage. We are now in a process of finding new professional, experinced and skillful labourers for our Estate.

Weeding the Land

The Estate is fully covered with weeds and grass to a knee high, which consists mainly with pioneer plant species. Pioneer plant species appear early in the cycle of vegetation succession. These pioneer plants have characteristics that particularly suit their role in the early stages of succession, such as a rapid growth rate and the ability to produce large amounts of small, easily dispersed seeds.

February is the month where the rubber trees start dropping their leaves. Rubber plantations are not tapped during this period. When there is plenty of sunlight, the seeds of the pioneer species in top soil layer are germinating under favorable environmental conditions. Once the tree canopy is re-established the weed growth suppresses naturally. When it is about to start tapping at the end of March after rains, the usual practice is weeding under the rubber trees and making the path for tappers walk freely.

People use chemicals for weeding. That is more economical, but it will leave us an infertile land. All the living being in the soil will be killed and the land will be poisonous, where it transfers the traces of chemicals along the food chain back to the humans. Therefore application of  weedicide is out of question. Manual weeding is more expensive and a time taking task. We have bought a second-hand bush trimmer for weeding and it works well. What we need now is more time to spend in the Estate and increase the labour input for weeding.

These are pioneer plant species that are found in the Estate.

Alstonia macrophylla (Alstonia)

Osbeckia octandra* (Heen Bovitiya)

Eupatorium odoratum (Podisingomaran)

Macaranga peltata (Kenda)

Every start is difficult...

The long journey started...

It is a steep hill with no steps to climb and nothing to grasp. With no experience of climbing, we started our long journey. We know there will be plenty of falls, but can't turn back. We have to get up and restart the journey. There will be heart breaks, worries and tears, but there is no turn back; we have to climb to the top...