Tea Board warns of crisis without glyphosate
Unauthorised weedicides are being used by tea growers resulting in chemicals added to teas that have raised concerns by some importing countries.
These nations have already questioned the local authorities on the extraordinarily high substance of certain weedicides, Sri Lanka Tea Board, (SLTB) Chairman Dr. Rohan Pethiyagoda said.
Authorities note that this has caused problems to the local tea industry and believed that the use of these chemicals on a rotational cycle was likely to have not been followed to the letter in the wake of the ban on glyphosate.
Although Sri Lanka carries out its own testing of the teas prior to export, these are not systematically carried out and on the other hand they are more often randomly checked.
While some importing authorities have raised these concerns with their Sri Lankan counterparts, local authorities are “deeply concerned and worried,” Dr. Pethiyagoda said.
Meanwhile, it was noted that no estates were informing the authorities about the types of chemicals being used on the fields to control weeds.
It was found that a number of growers are resorting to the use of unauthorised chemicals, he noted.
Sri Lanka Tea Board Laboratory Director Dr. Nishantha Jayathilake told the Business Times however that they were unaware of any such concerns raised by other countries regarding the residue levels of chemicals found in tea exports from Sri Lanka.
Customs data analyzed by tea broker Siyaka Research said export earnings totalled US$1billion during the period January – August 2017, up by 20 per cent on last year’s earnings figure of $834 million. The highest foreign exchange earned from exports for the eight month period was $1billion achieved in 2014.
Interestingly the country exported 214.6 million kg during January – August 2014 with this year’s export quantities however at an 8-year low of 190.1 million kg. In 2016 Sri Lanka even with the poor weather conditions has shipped 197.3 million kg, statistics indicate.
Siyaka Research also said Sri Lanka produced 24.6 million kg in August 2017, up 6 per cent against last year’s figure of 23.3 million kg. All three elevations were up last year but Low Growns show the greatest quantity gain with tea production rising to 17.1 million kg from 15.9 million kg (+8 per cent) a year ago.