To save its famed tea, Sri Lanka must look to the soil

IN the cool mist of the central highlands, the legacy of Ceylon tea still stands proud—a story steeped in flavour, heritage, and a quality that commands global respect.

- By Dr. Shatadru Chattopadhayay

For generations, the emerald slopes of this island nation have produced some of the world's finest tea. But that legacy is now increasingly fragile. Beneath the beauty of the rolling tea gardens, a crisis is unfolding in the very soil that sustains them. As that soil depletes, production costs rise, and international markets fundamentally evolve, the Sri Lankan tea industry faces a defining question: will it cling to the familiar, yet failing, practices of the past, or will it pioneer a regenerative future and reaffirm its global leadership?.

The path forward is not an academic fantasy; it is already being mapped out on the ground. The good news is that Sri Lanka has already taken the first, critical steps. Halgolla Estate, in a landmark achievement, earned the world's first-ever Regenagri certification for a tea estate, a move that instantly put the country on the global sustainability map. Not long after, the Lumbini Tea Valley followed, becoming the first group of smallholders in the world to earn the same prestigious certification. These pioneers, operating at different scales, have definitively proven that regenerative agriculture—a holistic method of farming that actively restores soil health, boosts vital biodiversity, and sequesters atmospheric carbon—is a viable model for both large estates and smallholder collectives.

But these isolated success stories, however inspiring, will not be enough to turn the tide. If Sri Lanka is to maintain its competitive edge in export markets that are increasingly and aggressively driven by sustainability, it needs a systemic transformation. That monumental shift requires one thing above all else: clear, consistent, and courageous policy support from the Government.