Organic tea in Sri Lanka

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Sri Lanka pioneered organic tea production in the world in 1983 and marketing in
1987.Biodynamic tea production commenced in 1996. Biodynamic agriculture is a form of
alternative agriculture very similar to organic farming, but it includes various esoteric
concepts drawn from the ideas of Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925). Initially developed in 1924,
it was the first of the organic agriculture movements. Sri Lanka continues to produce
organic and biodynamic teas at 4905.58 ha, constituting a 2.21 percent of the tea area of
the country.

Organic and biodynamic tea production is being expanded in the cooperates and
smallholder sectors and organized farmer groups in different agro-ecological regions and
in the majority of marginal and low yielding tea fields have been converted to organic tea.

The Sri Lankan organic tea industry caters for black, green and silver tip teas in bulk and
processed teas, value-added teas with flavours and environmentally friendly packages
which fetch a minimum of 2-3 fold premium prices in the international markets. UK,
Australia, Germany, Japan, Netherlands and the United States are the traditional buyers of
Sri Lankan organic tea .Other destinations are Italy, France, Canada, Singapore and Spain.
The local demand for organic teas is now increasing. Once upon a time, it was a growth
sector but now in Sri Lanka, the organic certification process is very costly – a factor that
makes organic tea 10-15% more expensive than regular tea.

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