The Ministry of Plantations and Community Infrastructure will launch the "Ceylon Tea Village" national programme to establish 500 tea villages across the country, aiming to increase Sri Lanka's made tea production to 400 million kilograms and tea export earnings to US$2.5 billion by 2030.
The initiative is designed to modernize the smallholder tea sector, improve the livelihoods of tea growers, and promote the sustainable development of the tea industry. It will focus on increasing green leaf yields and productivity, enhancing farmers' incomes, promoting value-added tea products, integrating tea cultivation with tourism, introducing modern and sustainable farming practices, improving infrastructure, and strengthening producer cooperatives.
Each tea village will receive an integrated development package, including high-density tea demonstration plots, tea nurseries, crop insurance, a pension scheme for smallholder tea farmers, concessionary loan facilities, mechanization support, training and equipment for handmade tea production, renewable agriculture training, and assistance to develop additional income-generating activities.
The first phase of the programme will see the establishment of 144 tea villages in 2026, covering all 144 Tea Inspector Divisions across Sri Lanka. The inaugural ceremony will be held on July 15 at Halgolla, Hapugastalawa in the Kotmale Divisional Secretariat of the Nuwara Eliya District.
On the same day, the programme will be officially launched in tea-growing villages across 11 districts, including Nuwara Eliya, Kandy, Badulla, Galle, Matara, Kalutara, Ratnapura, Kegalle, Hambantota, Matale, and Monaragala.
The Ministry stated that the programme is expected to play a key role in strengthening Sri Lanka's smallholder tea sector, increasing farmers' incomes, modernizing the tea industry, and supporting the country's 2030 national development goals.
