Walks in Hantana.
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| Near Kandy is the vast Hantana Tea Estate. This is an old tea estate that used to support two tea factories. Now there is only one factory, the other having been converted into one of many Tea Museums. This picture shows a working party of tea pluckers picking the young shoots. Some of the bushes are over 100 years old. They are pruned every five years and the tea is picked four or five times in the fifth year. | The tea pickers work hard and are not paid very much at all. They are hill country Tamils who live and work on the estates. They have been exploited from the time they came to Ceylon in the 19th century to the present day despite various initiatives over the years to improve their lot. The tragic fact is that they are at the very bottom of the chain, like many others around the world who produce primary products. |
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| The tea estates are generally very well looked after. The plants are usually on gently sloping terraces with dry stone retaining wall. Carefully pruned trees provide some shade and also help prevent soil erosion. | Here a family of tea workers carry wood home for their fires. There is deforestation in Sri Lanka but it is hard to combat it when there is such a need for fuel and when trees and plants seem to grow so quickly - in the hill country. Even tea factories use wood for the furnace that provides the heat to dry the leaves. As a comparison a tank of gas costs nearly 1000 R/- (=£6=$10) and lasts about 3 months for the average family. But 1000 R/- is one week's wages for a tea estate worker. |
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