CHATURANGA PRADEEP SAMARAWICKRAMA Reply To:
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Responsibility given to plant and seed planting centre for production of 20mn tea plants
The Agriculture Department has taken action to transfer the responsibility to the plant and seed planting centre for the production of 20 million tea plants annually.
A discussion in this regard was held yesterday at the Gannoruwa Service Training Centre under the patronage of Agriculture and Plantation Industries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera.
He said 20 million saplings are required annually for the tea plantations in the country's tea industry for new planting and replanting.
"The lack of high quality tea plants has a severe impact on the yield of tea plantations and also affects the rise of nematode disease in tea plantations," he said.
Currently, the number of tea plants required annually for the needs of the Small Tea Estate Development Authority is 20 million. Although many tea growers get tea plants from nurseries, it has been revealed that the harvest of tea plants obtained from those nurseries is seriously affected by roundworm disease.
The licenses of 20 nurseries have been revoked for not providing quality tea plants. Also, arrangements have been made to start 200 more tea plantation nurseries by providing subsidies of Rs. 490 million.
Therefore, the officials of the authority requested the Minister to provide the support of the Department of Agriculture for the production of high-quality tea plants. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)
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