ESTABLISHMENT OF RURAL ENTREPRENEUR ACADEMY

Alliance for Sustainable Landscapes Management (ASLM) which has registered as a Non-Governmental Organization in Sri Lanka acts as the local counterpart of Rainforest Alliance (RA) in Sri Lanka. The main task of this counterpart was training and mobilizing the tea farmers, producers and suppliers in order to obtain RA sustainable Agricultural Certificate over the last several years. In 2015 ASLM commenced the training and mobilization of Small Tea Farm Holders (STH) to obtain RA certificate and so far we have trained and certified 23092 smallholder farmers and around 50,000 farmers are being mobilised for certification before the end of year 2018. The concept of Farmer Field School (FFS) was originated in Sri Lanka in 1980s which is internationally very popular, well recognised, widely used method and have shown good results in training of farmers worldwide, but the same currently not used in Sri Lanka. ASLM reintroduce the concept of FSS with a new face and with the aim of converting the traditional farmers into agriculture based entrepreneurs. This new initiative is called as “Rural Entrepreneur Academy” in which the rural economy will be strengthened using available resources within the selected rural areas. We pay our main attention to introduce this concept to the Tea Smallholder’s Development Societies. In order to make this effort a success National Federation of Tea Smallholder Development Societies, Faculty of Agriculture and Agribusiness Management of Sabaragamuwa University and Unilever Sri Lanka have come forward as counterparts. The tea industry in Sri Lanka is categorized into two main production systems based on the scale of operation as the smallholdings sector and the plantations sector. Small Tea Farm Holders (STH) are defined as holding less than 10 Acres (4 Ha) where tea is grown for the purpose of converting to made tea as stated in the Tea Control Act. The tea small holdings sector occupy about 43% of the total extent of tea lands, about 450,000 smallholdings of which about 88% less than half a hectare, and contribute more than 75 per cent of the total tea production. Tea smallholders are more concentrated in low elevations, in the districts of Rathnapura, Galle, Matara and Kaluthara (75% of the extent). Tea smallholders are governed by the tea smallholders Development Authority (TSHDA) which has been established under the Tea Small Holdings Development Act No. 35 of 1975. All tea smallholders are also members of the Sri Lanka Federation of Tea Smallholder Development Societies also known as Tea Shakthi which has been enacted by Act No. 36 of 1991 to establish and register the Tea Small Holder Societies and Act No. 21 of 1997 to grant legal status to these societies have been subsequently legislated. Under this federation, there are village level societies that provide a range of support to its members. Some TSHS are well established and operating with resources and provide support services to its member farmers such as transportation of green leaves, distribution of fertilizers as well as training and capacity building. The TSHDA is operating at each district to regularise and support the tea smallholders and the lowest unit at the grassroots level of the service provision structure is the Tea Inspector / Extension Officer range and there are 147 such ranges currently operating throughout the tea growing regions, which are immediately supervised by the sub office structure consisting of 26 sub offices in eight regions. There are about 1428 Tea Smallholder Societies at local level. The tea industry in Sri Lanka has been concentrated around the Regional Plantation Companies and private factories and Tea smallholders provide their green tea leaves to the factories in the region operated by the regional plantation companies or private companies as there are no other options for them. The only viable option is organizing as STH societies and sell the green tea leaves through that as a group and not as an individual and try to bargain for a better price. The price per Kg of green leaves is determined by the market price of the made tea of each factory. If the factory sells its products for higher price in the market, the smallholders also get a higher price for their green leaves. The main problem face in the TSH sector is that the average production per hectare is low compare to the maximum potential yield and cost of production is also high compare to the other tea producing countries (although better than the RPCs). As a result they operate at the margin and hardly change their routine practices and apply new knowledge to overcome the issues and increase efficiency, productivity and profitability. Therefore, there is a need of a driving force to change the smallholders mind set, traditional inefficient and ineffective cultivation practices and also to make the TSH are sustainable. The Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard provide a comprehensive and robust set of guidelines (a set of criteria) to transform agriculture a sustainable industry while overcoming the current realities and challenges for agriculture such as climate change, declining of productivity, declining of efficiency, issues with international market, continuous reduction of income and profit and degradation of biodiversity and particularly destruction of forests for agriculture etc,. Novel agricultural practices which align with scientific knowledge and adhering to the criteria in RA Sustainable agricultural standard is one of the best options available to overcome the issues and ensure sustainability of tea industry. As a small country and has a considerably big market and also historically hold a competitive share in international market, Sri Lankan tea industry can get a lot of benefits by implementing activities to adhere with RA standard and thereafter obtaining RA Sustainable Agriculture Certification. Tea Smallholder’s Societies will be formed as a rural Entrepreneur Academy and will be trained on sustainable agriculture and provide support to build up as an entrepreneur. Sustainable landscapes management is the foundation of a sustainable tea cultivation and it has been revealed that about 93% of STH are weak in planning and management. Through this new initiative the STH would be able to increase the productivity and efficiency by adopting effective planning and management systems, biodiversity conservation, integrated natural resources management, integrated pests and disease management etc., which has been introduced by the RA Sustainable Agricultural Standard. In addition, other skill development based on the demand, diversification of crops and income portfolio etc., also will be done. A course curriculum has been developed and the STH who follow the training programme and complete successfully will be awarded with a National Vocational Qualification Certificate by UOS, RA and ASLM. The concept of Farmer Field School will be applied in training the Tea Smallholders and technical support will be provided by the Department of Agribusiness at University of Sabaragamuwa. As the training of elderly people is special thing, it is important to guide them to acquire knowledge by exploring things, self-learning through observations etc., as listening to a lecture by a trainer or teacher. Also it is very practical to implement such knowledge after the training. Therefore, through this initiative our aim is to change the STH of the STH societies into active managers of agricultural farming.