Case study: Bathala in a Bag pilot in Sri Lanka

Hear tea worker S. Sathees' story.

Our Bathala in a Bag pilot

Launched in January 2022, our Bathala in a Bag (BiB) pilot was rolled out to all 1,200 households at one tea estate in Sri Lanka. Bathala is a type of sweet potato, and our aim was to ensure food security for tea workers during national food shortages and inflation, which were particularly impacting tea communities.

The pilot provided improved technical training by the Department of Agriculture on growing known staple crops in small spaces. This directly addressed the needs of households on the tea estate, who have limited space to grow their own food. 

The pilot’s implementation was driven by community members, led by youth volunteers and the estate’s health and welfare team.

Our pilot directly addressed the needs of households on the tea estate, who have limited space to grow their own food.

Half of the households on the estate were provided planting material in a bag and trained. ETP estimates that nearly every household planted the crops they received, and over 75% continued cultivating them over a year after the intervention.

The pilot positively impacted tea workers’ diets and incomes.

88% of people participating in the pilot found that they had reduced how much their household had to spend on food.

92% reported a positive change in their diet; of these, 29% indicated that they now have access to better quality food, and almost half are can now eat more often.

88% of respondents reported reduced spending on food and 92% noted a positive change in their diet.

For example, tea worker S. Sathees noted that exposure to different crops, such as cassava leaves, helped to feed her extended family.

“Not only my [direct] family, but even my relatives benefitted immensely from the Bathala in a Bag project at a time when there was a shortage of wheat flour – because we had cassava from the project,” she said.

“Not only my [direct] family, but even my relatives benefitted immensely from the Bathala in a Bag project at a time when there was a shortage of wheat flour – because we had cassava from the project.”

Early evidence indicates that this pilot has had a ‘ripple effect’ across the estate. 70% of workers shared crops with their neighbours, who also planted the crops. We also found that workers exchanged, sold, or donated their crops across their community.

Given the pilot’s successes, we aim to expand its rollout to other estates in Sri Lanka, and we are refining the initiative based on our initial learnings.

Key next steps include developing a robust training programme and supporting the community to develop its own guidelines and audio-visual training assets, together with the Department of Agriculture.

Click here to read our 2022 Annual report, and read more about our work in Sri Lanka here.

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