Abstract:
Tea is one of the most popular and affordable beverages globally, and in Sri Lanka, it serves
as a major export commodity that significantly contributes to the national economy, ensrues
employment for a large segment of the population, and benefits from government support
and the adoption of sustainable cultivation practices. Smallholder tea estate owners manage
approximately 600/o of the country's tea land, accounting for about 70oh of total tea
production. However, these smallholders often rely on traditional farming methods, which
can limit both productivity and sustainability. Despite these challenges, the role in the local
economy and rural development remains crucial. This study aims to explore how
govemment support and sustainable practices influence the performance of smallholdertea
estate owners in the Rathnapura district. A sample of 105 smallholders was selected
through simple random sampling, and data were collected using a pre-tested structured
questionnaire. The data were analyzedwith SPSS version 24, applying descriptive statistics
and multiple regression analysis. Demographic analysis revealed that 5_7.Ioh of the farmers
were over 50 years old, 82.9o/o had a secondary education, and 53.3o/o of the respondents
relied solely on tea cultivation for income, while 46.7% of respondents had other ways of
income. The regression analysis explaine d 32.1% of the variance in performance, with an
adjusted R-square of 0.566, suggesting a good fit. The results showed that sustainable
agricultural practices (p:0.207), access to information and technology (p:0.079), land size
0:0.028), type of involvement in tea cultivation (p:0.039), marital status (p:0.059), age
$:0.690) and gender (p:0.299) affected positively and negatively on the performance.
Land size and the type of involvement in tea are identified as the most significant variables
in this model, with land size having a positive impact on the outcome and tea involvement
negatively affecting it, while other factors such as age, gender, and income do not have a
notable effect.
