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Challenges faced by tea smallholders Source:Dailynews International Tea Day (May 21)was declared in 2005 by the smallholder tea growers, civil society organizations, traders, and trade unions in Asia and Africa to address the issues of the industry and ensure fair prices for smallholder tea producers. To mark this day, this article discusses the prospects of the tea industry and issues faced by producers and measures taken by the Smallholder Tea and Rubber Revitalization (STaRR) project implemented under the Plantation Ministry, the State Ministry for Company Estate Reforms, Tea and Rubber Estates Related Crops Cultivation and Factories Modernization and Tea and Rubber Export Promotion with the support of the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD). Tea was first introduced to Sri Lanka in 1839 with the planting of a batch of tea seeds in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya (Weatherstone, 1986). The first commercial tea plantation was started by James ...