Abstract:
Sri Lankan tea plantation sector is currently experiencing COVID-19 threats considerably. This will certainly create adverse outcomes in the health, social and economic settings in short, medium and longer terms in the tea plantation sector. To prevent any possible transmission of COVID-19 infections, stakeholders in the tea plantations are advised to adopt the guidelines at their workplaces. This study focuses on the factors affecting the adoption of control measures for the COVID-19 Pandemic in tea plantation sector in Badulla District. The study was conducted by selecting 20 tea estates using stratified sampling technique from Regional Plantation Companies in Badulla district. A Cross-sectional survey was conducted by administrating a semi-structured questionnaire together with focus group discussions to collect primary data from 72 individuals from management staff, operational staff and workers of the selected estates. Correlation and Multiple regression models were applied to measure the degree of variation and relationship among the tested parameters using STATA 16 software. Among the operational staff and workers in tea estates, the most prominent control measures were wearing face masks and keeping social distance during working time. Checking body temperature before entering to duty was hard to implement for workers engaged in the field, and wearing gloves was made complications in the field and factory premises. Findings of this study confirm that the individual's complacency on probability of getting affected, severity of the negative outcomes of the disease, confidence on the social institutions and the information received were positively correlated with the degree of adoption for the control measures. It was also found that socio economic factors; gender, income, education, type of employer and the nature of work can affect on the degree of adoption to the control measures. Some constrains related to the working place such as inadequate of facilities, lack of time and impracticability of the control measures were identified. Findings of this study would be useful for relevant authorities to review the factors affecting on the adoption of control measures introduced against Covid 19 in the plantation sector and develop most effective strategic plans for controlling such pandemic situations in future.
