Sri Lanka, April 25 -- By Nishel Fernando

Despite the disappointing tea production in March this year, the Sri Lanka Tea Board (SLTB) is still hopeful of touching 260 million kilogrammes in production, with the roll out of the Rs.1.2 billion fertiliser subsidy scheme in the smallholder sector.

"It's really difficult to say. We are hopeful of a positive year but I see after the positive start in January and February, we had a setback in March; it wiped off all good of January and February. The setback in March has put us back but I am still hopeful we will touch 260 million kilogrammes this year," SLTB Chairman Niraj De Mel told reporters in Colombo yesterday.

Tea production declined by 12.20 percent year-on-year (YoY) to 19.57 million ...