In view of increasing the national tea production and earning a tea export revenue of US$ 2 billion, the inauguration of the direct tea plantation project initiated by the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Tea Small Holdings Development Authority, was conducted in Elpitiya, Galle under the patronage of Hon. (Dr.) Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Plantation Industries. This project was introduced to 6 tea cultivating districts to coincide with this event.

Commenting on this, the Minister stated that the Plantation sector provided the maximum contribution to the national export income in the years 2021 and 2022 with US$ 890 million from coconut, US$ 1 billion from Rubber, US$ 420 million from Cinnamon and US$ 1.23 billion from Tea. The Minister also stated that this direct tea plantation project has been implemented with the intention of generating US$ 2 billion by tea export in future. He further mentioned that there are around 400,000 small tea estate holders island-wide, subsidy provided for tea cultivation would remain unchanged and that it would be possible to further reduce the price of fertilizer in the future.

This event was graced by Hon. Geetha Kumarasinghe, State Minister of Women and Child Affairs, Mr. Janaka Dharmakeerthi, Secretary, Ministry of Plantation Industries, Mr, Chinthaka Lokuhetti, Chairman, Tea Research Institute, Chairman, Small Tea Estate Association, Chairman, Pradeshiya Sabha, Elpitiya and many more including Small Tea Estate holders.