Top tea convention begins tomorrow

By Jehanki Anandha
A Tea Convention Workshop is to be held at the BMICH Committee Room‘A’ on September 6, 7 and 8 immediately following the International Tea Convention, to create awareness on the significance of the tea industry to the nationalized economy and on the resulting social impact on its workforce and surrounding communities.

The tea industry that contributed to the national economy of our country for well over a century is still heavily dependent on manual labour resident within the plantations. During the early stages of the industry, this labour had to survive on a subsistence income with minimum facilities provided by the plantations. Today, with private sector management, there is a growing trend towards improved quality of life with more emphasis on human resource development for better productivity. The total focus on the tea industry is fast changing, with greater emphasis being given to management that considers improvement of infrastructure in plantations, and improved quality of life in the plantations as necessary requirements to compete more forcefully in foreign markets. It would thus contribute more to the national economy with a possibility of all round benefits accruing to society as a whole.

The three day Tea Convention Workshop would capture the importance of the tea industry in meeting social responsibility whilst improving its presence in the economic life of the country.

To achieve this, the workshop would provide a forum for a cross section of the media, tea producers, tea exporters, tea brokers, officers of plantation companies, government policy makers, donors, private tea factory owners, and university students; in an effort to create more awareness on the growing trends within the plantation industry. School children from plantation sector schools, who are an integral part of the very life of the tea plantations, will have an exposure on what they could hopefully look forward to in their future.

The workshop would have very important and significant inputs by many personalities who possess long years of experience in numerous sectors within the tea industry.