The 2027 Budget allocates Rs 13 billion to the plantation sector, with the government setting a target of lifting plantation export earnings from US$3 billion to US$5 billion by the end of the decade.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake set out the plan in Thursday’s Budget speech, covering tea, rubber, coconut and palmyrah, NewsFirst reported. The Daily Mirror’s sector breakdown records the same Rs 13 billion allocation and the same US$3 billion to US$5 billion target.
Tea takes the largest share
- Rs 5 billion for a fertiliser subsidy paying Rs 4,000 per bag to tea growers
- Rs 820 million to help small-scale estate owners replant and fill vacant cultivation areas
- Rs 730 million to establish 500 tea villages across the Southern, Sabaragamuwa, North Western, Western, Uva and Central Provinces
The tea village scheme is aimed at smallholders, who NewsFirst notes account for nearly 70% of national tea production.
Other crops
Coconut receives Rs 2.5 billion through a Coconut Rehabilitation Project targeting underperforming estates. Rubber gets Rs 1 billion for a fertiliser subsidy and Rs 650 million for cultivation and productivity work, alongside support for replanting and cultivation in non-traditional areas. Rs 100 million is allocated to modernise the palmyrah industry in the Northern, Eastern, North Western and Hambantota districts, focused on value-added products and SME development.
Worker welfare and the 2045 question
Rs 3 billion is allocated for estate infrastructure, including field rest rooms, toilet facilities and rehabilitation of Praja Shakthi centres. The Rs 200 daily incentive allowance for estate workers introduced last year is to continue through 2027.
The Budget also returns to the lease question covered in our 7 November report on Regional Plantation Company land tenure. With RPC lease agreements due to expire in 2045, a Cabinet-appointed committee has been tasked with reviewing the agreements, assessing estate productivity and protecting the interests of both estate owners and workers.
Not reported
Neither filing gives a baseline year for the US$3 billion figure, sets out how the Rs 13 billion divides between the named schemes and the rest, or states when the lease review committee is to report.
