ComBank empowers Matugama tea growers with essential knowledge

Over hundred tea smallholders in the Matugama area came together recently at a multi-dimensional seminar conducted under a series of knowledge sharing events taking place around the country as part of the Dirishakthi Sustainable Entrepreneurship Development Programme of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC.

The Commercial Bank team was joined by representatives of the Aruna Tea Factory in Matugama, the Tea Smallholders Development Authority (TSHDA), Tea Research Institute (TRI) and the Public Health Department of Meegahathenna at this programme.

The programme comprised of lectures on communicable and non-communicable deceases by the Public Health Department team; on how to improve the harvest in a crisis situation with minimum resources and new technologies by the TRI team and on soil conservation and better planting methods by the TSHDA representatives.

A session on improving of savings habits of tea smallholders and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded Tea Smallholder Cultivation Development Loan Scheme was conducted by members of the Bank’s Development Credit Department (DCD).

These lectures were supplemented with a three-hour technical and skills development session on soil fertilization and machinery usage conducted by officers of the TRI and TSHDA. This covered topics with specific relevance to the area, such as methods of soil PH and EC testing, methods of soil carbon andnutrient testing, methods of pest identification and methods of root starch testing.

Commercial Bank’s Dirishakthi Sustainable Entrepreneurship Development Programme provides networking opportunities for members, consulting and mentoring services and training and capacity building with emphasis on financial inclusion and environmental sustainability. These programmes are organized by the Bank’s Agriculture and Microfinance Units which play a key role in helping the Bank to identify specific needs of micro entrepreneurs who require assistance to develop either their agriculture activities or micro businesses. These units are dedicated to promoting agriculture lending and micro financing.

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