Poverty indicators highlighted in the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2006/07 conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics indicates as follows:
The estate community is often portrayed as impoverished and these statistics seem to provide proof. Yet, on the contrary, in actual fact, compared to the rest of the nation, especially the rural sector, the estate community enjoys a better quality of life. However this is not captured when gathering facts and figures for research findings.

The poverty statistics released by the Department of Census and Statistics do not in any way reflect the actual position in the estates that come under Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs). Poverty appears to be measured by the total amount a household spends on food, housing, health, education and transport. In the case of estate workers, free housing, health & education are provided while expenditure on transport does not arise due to work being available in situ. Ironically, because food is the only component of expenditure, estate workers are measured as more impoverished without due credit being given for facilities provided by the RPCs.

The summary of the floor discussion pertaining to the open forum on poverty at which Ms. D.B.P. Suranjana Vidyaratne, Director General, Department of Census and Statistics presented “Surprises in poverty indicators” based on the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2006/2007, states as follows:

“Various classifications have implications on understanding the poverty levels in the respective sectors and therefore some policy influence is needed towards changing these definitions. Further it was stressed the need to refine this kind of urban rural and estate classification as most of DS divisions previously classified under rural, currently come under urban sector.

As a solution it was suggested to avoid this kind of urban, rural and estate classification.” In other words, the findings do not accurately capture the situation in the estate sector. The estates managed by RPCs have experienced improvements since privatisation in 1992. For example, according to the Plantation Human Development Trust, the 2007 figure Low Birth Weight for RPC estates is 16.1% which is better than the National Average of 16.6% released by the Director of health Services. Statistics on infant mortality rates clearly show the paradigm shift that has taken place from 52.6 in 1987 to 12.3 last year. The Maternal Mortality Rate is on par with the national average.

This clearly shows that the estate workers have reaped the benefits of not only improved health, but also education and their quality of life, especially their earning potential, have improved significantly since the estates were handed over to RPCs. Following a government policy decision taken in 1997, a process to integrate the estate health service with the national system is on-going with some 29 estate hospitals already taken over and others in various stages of transfer. A preventive health service under a government medical officer is already in place in most plantation areas.

These steps have resulted in as much as 98% of child birth among the estate community taking place in government hospitals in 2007. RPC estates boast of a much higher health and nutrition standard than Sri Lanka’s rural sector with the lowest incidence of illness among children. The calorie intake of 2674 among the estate community is higher than the FAO standard of 2260. 70% of the RPC estate community has access to sanitation and 86% get water on tap. 95 ambulances have been provided in the last two years.

More importantly, while the national average of household expenditure on housing, clothing, education, transport, fuel, lighting and recreation is 45%, for the estate community, it is 30% because they enjoy an array of subsidized welfare support from womb to tomb, not only for the employee, but also for the entire family and all other dependants. This phenomenon is found only in Sri Lankan estates and nowhere else in the world.

Poverty is surprisingly the highest in Nuwara Eliya. To quote the summary of the floor discussion following Ms. Vidyaratne’s presentation: “Nuwara Eliya district has contributed to push the poverty figures in the estate sector to a higher level. Insufficient policy focus or focus not being aligned to the requirement of the sector could be a reason for this result. It being a district where tea, vegetable cultivation, animal husbandry and tourism perform well and people receive relatively better wages, justification of the existing poverty situation of Nuwara Eliya district is difficult.”

It is evident that the methodology adopted for the research requires to be reviewed and we hope that for the statistics to be of strategic relevance to policy makers and decision makers, the Census and Statistics Department will consider seriously reviewing the research findings pertaining to the estate sector.