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The public-private partnership (PPP) concept was developed into an extension model to bridge the gap between demand and supply of extension services in view of fulfill the extension needs of the tea small holdings sector. In order to achieve a greater interaction among key stakeholders and their proactive participation in planning, implementation and monitoring of the partnership programs, cooperation between staff of partners, support from community leadership, mutual respect, appreciation of the contribution of partners, and effective communication are of paramount importance in developing an effective partnerships extension system. The PPP extension model developed in this study is proven as effective. However, so far this model is practiced by only a handful of stakeholders and locations. Hence it is recommended that the organizations responsible develop management and fiscal procedures to adopt this model and make sure all smallholders are served through such models.

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Amarathunga, Senaka Lalith Dharmasri
Dr. Lalith Amarathunga has a Ph.D in Agriculture Extension and M.Sc in Environmental Science. He is working as a Senior Manager Extension at the Tea Smallholder Factories Plc. managed by the John Keells Plc. He serves as Head of Tea Smallholder-factory base partnership extension network for tea technology dissemination.

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