The Planters' Association of Ceylon News
Malwatte Valley Plantations PLC Director / CEO, Shanaka Samaradiwakara was appointed as Chairman of the Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PAC), while Kahawatte Plantations PLC Director / CEO Binesh Pananwala, was appointed as Deputy Chairman at the Association’s 172nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 19 September at the Cinnamon Grand.
The event was graced by Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor, Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe and Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman, Raj Obeyesekere as Chief Guest and Guest of Honour respectively.
Many generations ago, an estate child's first years began in a cloth hammock strung up near the rows of tea bushes, so a mother could keep working within earshot of her infant. Later a corner in a line room was converted to establish Pulle Madu, where infants and toddlers were sheltered to ensure that plucking by their mothers was not disrupted.
Nestled in Sri Lanka's renowned Dimbula tea-planting district, at elevations ranging from 4,500 to 5,000 feet, Stonycliff Estate, a flagship property of Kotagala Plantations PLC and the Colombo Fort land and Building (CFLB ) Group, stands as an enduring link to the island's unbroken legacy of producing the highest-quality black tea in the world.
The Dimbula district was one of the earliest areas in Sri Lanka to be planted with tea.
Since inception the plantation industry has served as a central pillar of the Sri Lankan economy. Tea in particular has been the lynchpin of the industry. Especially for globally renowned Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) like Malwatte Valley Plantations PLC, whose teas are possessed of a globally unique terroir that emerges from the soil, elevation and dry winds that move through the valley.
Their teas have a distinctively mellow, smooth, and highly aromatic flavor profile that global connoisseurs aggressively seek out.
Perched beside the Nanu Oya railway station, built in 1885 to carry Dimbula's tea down to Colombo, Somerset remains one of the most accessible, and most storied, high-grown estates in the region. Its heritage rests on three threads: machinery and families that have outlived generations of planters, a steady embrace of new technology, and a standard of quality that has never wavered. Somerset is not a relic, but a working estate, still carrying forward a story that began nearly a century and a half ago.
The Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PA) is calling on the government to treat the systematic theft of high-value agricultural crops as a serious economic threat, warning that unchecked losses are deterring investment, eroding export competitiveness and putting the livelihoods of farmers at risk.
Across Sri Lanka’s plantation districts, the organised theft of pepper, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla, avocado and other high-value crops has reached a scale that the industry says can no longer be dismissed as an isolated or manageable problem.
The Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) and Plantation Human Development Trust (PHDT) have reiterated its commitment to supporting estate communities affected by the devastating cyclone Ditwah disaster, facilitating relief and rehabilitation assistance through a combination of emergency response initiatives and long-term reconstruction projects.
Following the cyclone, the RPCs were among the first responders on the ground.
Rethinking Oil Palm: Biodiversity, Evidence and Sri Lanka’s Policy Dilemma
Sri Lanka’s decision to phase out oil palm cultivation has been shaped by perception rather than policy. At the center of the debate lies a powerful claim: that oil palm poses a significant threat to biodiversity and the environment. Scientific evidence however, suggests the contrary.
The current footprint of oil palm in Sri Lanka is relatively small - around 11,000 hectares and has largely been established through the conversion of rubber lands rather than forests.
The Planters' Association of Ceylon (PA), the apex body of Sri Lanka's Plantation industry, has called for an urgent review and streamlining of the industry's cost structures in light of the unprecedented crisis in West Asia and the Strait of Hormuz.
Currently, approximately 45% of Sri Lanka’s total annual Tea exports – equivalent to approximately US$ 680 million of Sri Lanka's total US$ 1.