Author: Waharaka Gamage Jayasena
AIT Library Call Number: AIT Diss no. HS-94-05
Year: 1994
Academic Program: Human Settlement (HS)
Type: Thesis (Ph.D.) – Asian Institute of Technology
Examination Committee: B.W.E. Wickramanayake (Chairperson); Harvey Demaine, Boonjith Titapiwatanakun, J.G.M. Hilhorst, (Examination Committee Members)
Abstract: Rubber smallholding sector plays a vital role in the economy of Sri Lanka as an important source of employment and income for more than a half a million people. It is also important for foreign exchange earning as well as government revenue. Since the 1950s, several measures have been taken by the government to improve the living standard of rubber growing smallholders. Provision of replanting and new planting grants and processing facilities, establishment of state sponsored marketing channels, expansion of research, extension and training facilities and pricing and tax policies are among those measures. In spite of these government development policies and programmes, decline in replanting, production, productivity and quantity exported have become remarkable features of the rubber industry since the early 1970s. Although rubber is the major crop in this smallholder farming system, there are several other crop and livestock production components which are important for farmers in terms of land use, income and employment. Most of the studies undertaken in the past however, paid attention to the problems associated with rubber production. Very little attention has been paid to identifying development problems of rubber smallholders in the context of the overall farming system. The present study is an attempt to identify the development problems of rubber growing smallholders and the causes for those problems in the context of the overall farming system. An assessment has also been made on the effect and impact of government development policies and programmes which introduced in the past to upgrade the living standards of rubber smallholders. The analysis is mainly based on a sample survey undertaken in one of the major rubber growing districts, Kalutara, in southern Sri Lanka. Although the rubber growing smallholders are considered as a unique group of farmers for administrative purposes, differences among those farmers are considerably high in terms of resource ownership, resource utilization, employment and i
Scholarship Donor(s): United State Agency for International Development (USAID); Agrarian Research and Training Institute (ARTI)
Note: A Dissertation Submitted in Partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
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