Tea exporters welcome removal of ban on glyphosate

The Tea Exporters’ Association (TEA) yesterday welcomed the government decision to lift the ban on the use of glyphosate weedicide on the tea and rubber plantations.

“The association thanks the president and prime minister for the decision taken in the best interest of the plantation sector and also the national economy.

The TEA itself addressed a letter to the president in February this year, requesting his intervention to remove the ban, as it has caused some adverse impacts on the tea exports sector with crop losses reporting in high and medium elevations in the last two years and also the cropping up of the MRL issue in Japan and some European Union (EU) countries from the beginning of this year,” a TEA statement said.

TEA in its statement further noted that all leading teaproducing countries such as India, Kenya, China, Vietnam, etc. use glyphosate as it is the most cost-effective weedicide for the tea industry.

“The use of glyphosate is accepted in every tea importing country, including the EU, USA, Japan, etc. Recently the EU Commission approved the use of glyphosate in the EU countries for a further five-year period from 2017. This is clear evidence that the use of glyphosate is accepted in many countries as a safe weedicide.”

The tea crop losses in the high and medium elevations have been estimated at around 20-25 percent of the annual tea production, with the ban on glyphosate and subsequent low application of fertilizer.

The estimated export revenue losses at the prevailing prices are in the region of Rs.18-20 billion a year.

Further, the non-availability of adequate quantities of Ceylon Tea for exports allows other tea-producing countries to make inroads into the Ceylon Tea market share in some importing countries.

The TEA also thanked the plantation industries minister and former Tea Board Chairman Dr. Rohan Pethiyagoda for their untiring efforts in getting the glyphosate ban lifted for the plantation sector.

“The TEA is hopeful that the tea industry would be able to overcome the crop issues and MRL matter with the teaimporting countries in the next three to four months, allowing uninterrupted tea exports from the country,” the statement said.