For decades, Sri Lanka’s plantation sector survived by relying on tradition, resilience, and sheer hard work. Tea, rubber, coconut, cinnamon, and oil palm continued to generate foreign exchange and rural employment even as productivity stagnated and global competitors moved ahead. Today, that survival model is under serious strain. The sector is facing a convergence of pressures: rising wages, labour shortages, climate volatility, ageing plantations, and a cost structure that