The Ministry of Plantation and Infrastructure Facilities, in collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Economy, yesterday launched the Plantation Sector Decision Support System (DSS), a new digital platform designed to strengthen evidence-based decision-making across Sri Lanka's plantation sector.

The system, developed under the theme "One Platform, Multiple Institutions, Better Decisions," was officially handed over to the Ministry as a Digital Public Asset at a ceremony held under the patronage of Minister of Plantation and Infrastructure Facilities Samantha Vidyaratne.

The DSS has been developed under the Integrated Digital Agriculture Transformation (IDAT) Programme, a joint initiative of the Ministry of Plantation and Infrastructure Facilities and the Ministry of Digital Economy.

The platform integrates data from seven key plantation sector institutions into a single digital system, covering the country's major plantation crops including tea, rubber, coconut and cashew. It enables real-time monitoring of sector performance, climate impacts and Government subsidy and investment programmes, while providing policymakers with timely and reliable information to support informed decision-making.

Participating institutions include the Sri Lanka Tea Board, Tea Smallholdings Development Authority, Rubber Development Department, Rubber Research Institute, Coconut Cultivation Board, Coconut Development Authority and the Cashew Corporation of Sri Lanka.

Addressing the launch, Minister Vidyaratne said digitalisation has become a national priority and would deliver significant benefits to the plantation sector, particularly the tea industry.

He said the new system would facilitate the accurate collection of farmer data, improve the efficiency of export processes and strengthen evidence-based governance, enabling sustainable development, better management and improved services for farmers.

The Minister added that the DSS would not only strengthen the plantation economy but also serve as a key component of Sri Lanka's expanding digital public infrastructure.

The launch was attended by Deputy Minister Sundaralingam Pradeep, Ministry Secretary Gunadasa Samarasinghe, Secretary to the Ministry of Digital Economy Varuna Sri Dhanapala, Presidential Adviser on Digital Economy Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya and senior representatives of the World Bank's Digital Agriculture Team, including Santoshkumar Vasudevan and Sunil Madan.

The project was funded with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Connect to Care Global, led by Chanditha Samarasinghe, and the Sarvodaya Institute were key implementation partners, while technical assistance was provided by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Engineering Systems Program (ESP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.