Abstract:
The tea industry plays a significant role in the country's economy. There are two types of
leaf collectors namely factory line collectors and independent tea leaf collectors. The
latter faces many difficulties such as unavailability of correct and up-to-date information
at the time of decision making. Hence this study was carried out to explore the
information needs of the independent tea leaf collectors concerning five information
categories. A survey was conducted in Matara and Kalutara districts, which accounts for
the highest leaf collection in 2018 in the low country, using a structured interview
schedule. Respondents were selected using stratified random sampling (n=72). Data were
analysed using descriptive methods. The mean age of the respondents was at 48 years,
while the average monthly income was 37,000 LKR. The average green leaf collection
per month was 13,000kg. The most common types of information requirements were
weather information (71.83%), technological information related to collecting and
transporting leaves (64.78%), price information (81.70%), and subsidies (78.90%). Nearly
half the respondents (56.30%) were interested to receive information regarding loan
services. Furthermore, the majority (65%) agreed that they are not satisfied with the
information dissemination methods used by the tea factories. Many (62%) were not
satisfied with information systems available for the tea smallholder community, including
the leaf collectors. Access to mobile phones was satisfactory: feature phones (55%) and
smartphones (44%). While most (83%) of the respondents agreed that it is easy to use
ICT tools to record leaf collection information. The study concludes that the leaf collector
community needs up-to-date and effective information systems that can support decision
making thus it is necessary to develop suitable information systems to cater to the
information needs of the leaf collectors.
Keywords: Tea leaf collector, information, needs, ICTs
