Rural Tea Development Societies (RTS) have been established by the Tea Small Holdings Development Authority (TSHDA) to address the critical issues faced by the tea smallholders. This study attempted to assess the present status and the capacity of the RTS and also identify the attributes that affect their capacity. The perception of Tea Inspectors (TIs), the key entities responsible for extension support for the smallholders, were collected from twelve Focus Group Discussions. The opinions of 65 TIs with over five years of work experiences (who interact with about 575 RTS in seven major tea smallholding area) were analysed by qualitatively. Results revealed, that the majority of RTS are not performing well due to internal factors such as poor leadership, lack of enthusiasm of members, lack of trustworthiness, status of the members, attitudes of members and also due to external factors such as ruralurban context, government benefits, the role of the extension agent, changes in the external environment, the effect of other organisation and politics. Contribution of the Main Officers, Management Committee and the membership is greater in RTS that are highly active than that of the poorly active RTS. The self-reliance capacity was low in the majority of the RTS and was highly dependent on TIs and the government's assistance. Inbuilt weaknesses in the organisational culture were identified, mainly with respect to attitudes. The majority of RTSs are not goal-oriented. The majority of RTS are not dynamic in organisational performances. Finally, their key extension agents feel that critical intervention is required to overcome the above weaknesses.

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This study was carried out to identify the effective factors that influence the adoption of Manuring of Mature Rubber Cultivation (MMRC) in Moneragala District. The data were collected through a self-administrated survey from 397 smallholders owing mature rubber cultivations in 2020, using stratified random sampling. The conceptual model was developed based on the decomposed theory of planned behavior. The variables were measured with the use of validated items. The responses of rubber smallholders for items were captured on a Five-point Likert scale. Two-stage modelbuilding process was applied in this study. The conceptualized model was empirically tested using partial least square structural equation modeling by bootstrapping procedure using the SMART-PLS 3.2 software. The composite six-predictor structural model was validly and reliably capable of explaining 78% the variability of the adoption of MMRC by rubber smallholders. Adoption of MMRC by rubber smallholders was positively and significantly correlated with the behavioural factors; behavioural intention, perceived behavioural control, whilst perceived behavioural control under adoption was the most significant influential factor. There were positive significant relationships between compatibility and attitude, perceived usefulness and attitude, perceived ease of use and attitude, out of which, compatibility had the most significant effect on attitude, whilst, the relationship between relative advantage and attitude was not significant. These findings can help boost the behavioral intention of rubber smallholders in Moneragala District to adopt on MMRC, especially by improving the aspects of facilitating conditions and subjective norms with the improvement of appropriate development and extension plan.

The adoption of the 1/2S d/2 tapping system by rubber smallholders is far behind the expectation of the Rubber Research Institute of Sri Lanka in Moneragala District. This study has assessed the behavioral factors that influence the adoption of the 1/2S d/2 tapping system. Data were collected using stratified random sampling. A self-administrated survey was deployed among rubber smallholders (self-tappers) in Moneragala District during 2020. The conceptual model was developed based on the decomposed theory of planned behavior. Study variables were measured using validated research instruments. A two-stage model-building process was applied. The conceptualized model was tested empirically, using partial least square structural equation modeling (SMART-PLS 3.2 version). The composite six-predictor conceptual framework and structural model explained 79% of the variance in the adoption of the 1/2S d/2 tapping system by rubber smallholders. The adoption of 1/2S d/2 by rubber smallholders positively correlated with the behavioral factors, behavioral intention, and perceived behavioral control. There were positive relationships between; compatibility and attitude, relative advantage and attitude, perceived usefulness and attitude, perceived ease of use and attitude, subjective norms and behavioral intention, facilitating condition, and perceived behavioral control. These findings can help boost the behavioral intention of rubber smallholders in Moneragala District in using 1/2S d/2, especially by improving the aspects of attitude and subjective norms of tappers.

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