Sri Lanka is targeting total export earnings of US$36 billion by 2030 as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s economy, Minister of Plantation and Community Infrastructure Samantha Vidyaratne said.
He said increasing production and developing export-oriented crops will play a key role in achieving the national export target, with tea, coconut and rubber identified as the main crops.
The government aims to increase finished tea production to 400 million kilograms by 2030. The number of tea smallholders receiving fertilizer subsidies has already been increased from 84,000 to 191,000, with 21,500 metric tonnes of fertilizer allocated under the programme.
Plans are also underway to introduce international standardisation for Ceylon Tea and establish 500 Ceylon Tea villages across the country.
The government is also implementing several programmes to expand coconut cultivation, including the distribution of 500,000 coconut seedlings to 250,000 families. The initiative is expected to establish around 7,812 acres of new coconut cultivation.
Meanwhile, the government aims to revive the rubber industry and increase rubber export earnings to US$2 billion by 2030 by rehabilitating abandoned rubber lands and expanding cultivation into non-traditional areas.
The minister also highlighted measures aimed at improving the living standards of plantation communities, including higher wages for estate workers, the development of estate roads and housing programmes.
Under these initiatives, the government has allocated Rs. 500 million for the development of dilapidated estate roads and has begun providing 10-perch plots of land and housing assistance to plantation communities.
A separate project, supported by Indian government funding, is also underway to construct 4,000 houses for the Malaiyagam community.
The government expects these measures to strengthen the plantation sector and contribute significantly towards achieving Sri Lanka’s overall export target by 2030.
