Abstract:
The tea sector is one of the most important agricultural industries in Sri
Lanka, providing employment opportunities for over one million people
while alleviating poverty in rural regions. However, climate change is
affecting the yields and quality of tea production and poses challenges to
production techniques. This study focuses on climate resilience strategies
recommended by the Tea Research Institute (TRI) for the low-country tea
production areas of Sri Lanka. TRI had introduced seven main strategies to
fit into the common practices of the region. The three main strategies were
selected for this study: drought mitigation in tea plantations, burying of
prunings to improve soil fertility and productivity of tea lands, and shade
management in tea. These strategies were assessed in this study by
conducting a SWOT matrix using both primary and secondary data. Primary
data were collected from TRI and secondary data, from scientific articles,
government reports, and institutional reports. All the strategies addressed
current weather events, and they played a major role in enhancing tea land
productivity. From all the strategies, shade management was an important
approach given the effects of reducing high temperatures in the
microclimate. However, the management needs to consider competition
between the tea and the shade species. Unpredictable weather events
severely damage tea crops and current strategies failed to address these
challenges effectively. According to the SWOT matrix, strategies need to be
updated with modern techniques such as IoT and Drona, eco-friendly
mulching, and new irrigation methods to mitigate the increasing severity of
weather events. Therefore, regular assessments and monitoring of the climate
resilience approaches are critical for sustainable tea production. The study
suggests further research to assess the effectiveness of the proposed
strategies and the implementation of a localized strategy evaluation
mechanism.
