SL looking at mechanical tea harvesting to combat labour scarcity
by Chanka Jayasinghe
Sri Lanka’s Tea Board, fearing labor shortages, has initiated mechanized tea harvesting with no quality or production loss expected, E.A.J.K. Edirisinghe, Commissioner of the Tea Board said He said the Tea Research Institute (TRI) has already carried out research collaborating with Japan, and identified that efficiency can be improved, while preserving the same production capacity in estates.
“Machine plucking and hand plucking are two different techniques. When you do hand plucking only, the best buds will be plucked. When plucking by machine, we will train the bush for the machine by grooming it,” Edirisinghe told reporters at a media briefing last week. “Then every 15 days, there will be new buds because of the way we groomed the bush.”
He said currently 55 lands in each TRI division have been cultivated with a mechanized tea harvesting model and the cultivators are asked to grow their tea according to the new model.
However, in a publication last year, the TRI mentioned that none of the mechanized harvesting machines tested in Sri Lanka could harvest tea leaves selectively, leaving tender shoots on the bush.
The harvested crop contained mature foliage and twigs etc. which had be removed by manual sorting.Average output of machines is in the range between 50 (small machines) and 350 (large machines) kg/day. But, the sorting and cleaning process need more labor, industry experts say.Machine plucking extends the frequency of harvesting (plucking round) due to non-selective harvesting of leaf. Industry experts say tea yield under mechanical harvesting could fall 30-50 percent in comparison to manual harvesting.
Officials from Planters Association of Ceylon have said machine tea harvesting was tested, but it cannot be implemented in Sri Lanka due to the damage it does to the bush.However, tea board officials said no production will be lost if the bush is first groomed to suit mechanized harvesting.
“If you harvest a previously hand plucked bush by machine, then yes the damage will be great and yes there will be a drop around 20-30 percent,” Edirisinghe said.
“But when you start plucking after grooming, the buds will break on the plucking surface and there will be no damage,” he said, adding that countries like Kenya, Japan and Malaysia use the method without any drop in quality and quantity.Tea Board and Tea Small Holding Development Authority (TSHDA) will provide 437,000 rupees per acre of tea land for those who follow the new model along with a special irrigation system.
“That does not mean hand plucking will be stopped. When there is no labour, we can use machines,” Edirisinghe said.
“The reason why we are doing this is if we ever have to go for mechanical harvesting, then we will have to remove existing plantation and plant anew to adapt to the new order. (Economy Next)
