‘It’s difficult to even have one meal’: Sri Lankan tea workers want better lives for their children

‘Difficult to even have one meal’

Description: Arulappan Ideijody picks more than 18kg (40lbs) of tea leaves each day, and only gets paid about US$80 per month. She’s one of thousands of Sri Lankan tea workers who are suffering from the island's worst economic crisis in decades. On top of rising national inflation, the tea industry in Sri Lanka suffered from a controversial government decision last year to ban chemical fertilisers. Tea production fell 15 per cent in the first quarter of 2022.