Abstract:
The Sri Lankan tea industry plays a major role in contributing significant
amount to government revenue as well as gross domestic product of Sri Lanka. The
quality and the undeniable flavor of Sri Lankan tea had been able to attract more
markets though the prices of Sri Lankan tea are higher compared to the other nations.
Today Sri Lanka shows the signs of reaping competitive disadvantages due to low labor
productivity and high cost of production. Alcohol addiction has not still taken into
account as a major problem, even though it is a social problem which is exists highly in
plantation sector. This paper examines the association between alcohol addiction and
labour productivity. The information on worker socio economic background and alcohol
consumption of workers was collected using a pre-tested questionnaire. Data collected
from 60 workers of tea plantations were analysed using Chi-square test to see the
association between alcohol addictions, labour productivity and socio economic factors.
The results revealed that among the socio-economic factors, sex and excess money has
an impact on alcohol addiction. There is no direct association between alcohol addiction
and labour productivity. Highly effective factor that reduces the overall productivity of
the plantations was identifies as alcohol related absenteeism. It also shown that the over
expense on alcohol consumption would influence workers to out migrate from estates
and they consider alcohol as a basic need of their lives and as a motivator.
