An integrated support package for smallholder growers formed the centre of Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Tea Village programme announced in July 2026.
The Ministry of Plantations and Community Infrastructure set out a plan for 500 tea villages, with an initial 144 intended to cover the country’s Tea Inspector Divisions.
Proposed assistance ranged from nurseries and demonstration plots to crop insurance, concessionary finance, mechanisation and training for handmade tea production. The programme also included support for producer cooperatives and additional sources of household income.
The announcement scheduled the inaugural event for 15 July at Halgolla in Hapugastalawa, within the Kotmale division. Parallel activities were planned across 11 tea-growing districts.
National targets associated with the programme were 400 million kilograms of made tea and US$2.5 billion in export earnings by 2030. These were stated ambitions, rather than results already achieved, with productivity and value-added products central to the plan.
