RATNAPURA THE GEM CITY

Ratnapura ("City of Gems") is the name of the provincial capital of Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka and the Ratnapura District in which the town is situated. Some say the modern name is derived from the Portuguese name Rapadura for jaggery, the palm candy produced traditionally in this region, but the more common explanation in Sri Lanka is that it comes from the Sinhala "ratna" meaning gems and "pura" meaning city. Ratnapura is also spelled as Rathnapura. Located some 101 km south east of Colombo, it is the centre of a long-established industry of precious stone mining including rubies, sapphires, and other gems. Apart from gem mining, the town is known for rice and fruit cultivations. Large plantations of tea and rubber surround the town. Tea grown in this region is called low-country tea. There is a well-established tourism industry in Ratnapura. Sinharaja Forest Reserve, Udawalawe National Park, Kitulgala, and Adam's Peak are especially popular among tourists. In 1901, the town of Ratnapura had a population of 4,084, and in 2001, it had increased to 46,309. The population of the Ratnapura district was 1,008,164 in 2001, and this consisted of 86.42% Buddhists and 9.88% Hindus, with the rest of the population being Christians and Muslims.


Gem trade
The people of the town depends on the gem trade. Gem pits are a common site in the surrounding area. Most of the large-scale gem businessmen of Sri Lanka operate from Ratnapura. There are considerable numbers of foreign gem traders in town too. Among the foreign traders, Thai (Thailand) traders are in the majority. Every day, large number of traders from suburbs and other towns gather in the town centre to sell or buy gemstones. Large-scale merchants collect gemstones from locals and sell them in the international market. Some traders go out of the city to buy gems. This includes neighboring towns like Kalawana, Bogawantalawa, and Ela-era. After the discovery of world-class alluvial sapphire deposits in the valley of Ilakaka in Madagascar, many Ratnapura merchants travel out of the country to Madagascar to buy gems.

Climate
Ratnapura features a tropical rainforest climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city is located in the south-western part of Sri Lanka, the so-called wet zone. The town receives rainfall mainly from south-western monsoons from May to September. During the remaining months of the year, there is also considerable precipitaion due to convective rains. The average annual precipitation is about 4,000 to 5,000 mm. The average temperature varies from 24 to 35 °C, and there are high humidity levels.The city is above 21m from sea level.

Places of worship
There are many places of worship in and around the city. Buddhist places of worship are more in number, which is to be expected since Buddhists constitute the great majority in the area. Nevertheless, there are plenty of places of worship in the town related to other religions. The following are some important examples:
The mountain Sri Pada -Adam's Peak(Buddhist/Hindu/Islam)
Maha Saman Devala (Buddhist)
Delgamu Viharaya (Buddhist)
Pothgul Viharaya (Buddhist)
Saints Peter and Paul's Cathedral (Catholic Church)
St. Luke's Church(Church of England)
Siva Temple (Hindu)
Jumma Mosque (Islam)
Diva Guhava (Buddhist)

Waterfalls
Bopath Ella Situated at Kuruvita, few miles away from Colombo Ratnapura high level road and very easy access via a vehicles. Both waterfalls attract visitors from all over the country to Ratnapura. You are allow to bath in this waterfall, but warning for flash flood may appear in a matter of minutes. Despite its danger the beauty of this place is a gem to ratnapura. You have to turn to left at Higgassena close to Kuruwita from the main Ccolombo - Ratnapura road go about 2 KM. The fall is like a boo leaf that gives it name.

Katugas Ella
A popular water fall among locals, situated at Mahawalawatta, 3 km away from Ratnapura town.

Kirindi Ella
The seventh highest waterfall in Sri Lanka. Situated 4 km away from Ratnapura - Pelmadulla Main road from Pelmadulla town.

Rajanawa
Situated next to Ratnapura Kalawana main road in Marapana village, this beautiful seenary been captured in few famous Sinhala films.

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TEA

History
TRI was first established in 1925 as an arm of the Planters’ Association of Ceylon, in order to enrich the tea industry through professional research findings. The institute had its early beginnings in Nuwara Eliya town with a representative nucleus of staff undertaking research in make-shift laboratories with very modest equipment and then transferred to the present location, the St. Coombs Estate in Talawakelle, in December 1929. 


Gradually TRI spreads into all tea growing areas of the country by establishing regional centres in Passara (Uva region), Kandy (Mid country region), Ratnapura (Low country region), Galle (Galle District), Deniyaya (Matara and Hambantota Districts) and Kaluthara (Kaluthara District). The two estates, St. Coombs in Talawakelle and St. Joachim in Ratnapura, which are operated under TRI, provide facilities to undertake research in cultivation and processing while making some earnings to the institute.


Breeding for crop improvement
The sustainability and profitability of the tea industry depend primarily on the availability of desired planting materials. At present, 80% of the VP extent is planted with a few high-yielding cultivars which do not possess many desirable attributes, such as resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses that prevail in different tea-growing regions. Hence the R&D activities for tea crop improvement are focused on incorporating desirable attributes that are not present, in the existing high-yielding cultivars, to increase growers' acceptability and meet the diverse needs of the end-users. By undertaking collaborative research with growers at the later stages of the cultivar-development process, the current research program aims at diversifying breeding strategies to conform to the diverse socio-economic and agro-ecological conditions. In addition, efforts are being made to breed, select and release new improved cultivars, that would be better suited to future demands, by integrating non-conventional breeding techniques.

Alternative energy sources and engergy-saving techniques
Sri Lanka produces about 300 million kg of tea. There are about 600 factories in operation in the country. According to an energy audit carried out in the past, the total energy usage for tea processing is about 25.4 MJ per kg of made tea, which consist of about 3.4 MJ of electrical energy and 22.0 MJ of thermal energy. On the basis of 300 million kg of production per annum, the total energy usage by the tea industry is 283 GWh of electrical energy, and 6,600 tera Joules of thermal energy per annum.

In black tea processing, thermal energy is used to generate hot air for the drying and withering processes. The fuel source widely used is firewood. The commonly used firewood species are gum, rubber and jungle trees. The availability of good firewood in right quantities is becoming increasingly difficult at factory locations; firewood is scarce most of the time. As a result, the price of firewood increases with increasing demand. The cost of thermal and electrical energy is about 30% of the total cost of tea processing (Rs.47.00). The cost of energy is increasing with increasing fuel prices and increasing charges for electricity. Therefore it is necessary to find alternative energy resources and energy-saving techniques for factories, in order to reduce the cost on fuel in tea processing. Research and development activities is therefore, focused on following areas.

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