A Comparative Study of Housing Conditions among living Sectors in Sri Lanka and among Residential Areas in Tea Industry, Matara District, Southern Part of Sri Lanka

• Published in: International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 190 - 196
• Main Authors: FUKUDA, YUKO, YAMAJI, EIJI
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Environmental Rehabilitation and Conservation, Research Center 2017
• Subjects: capability; living conditions; rural development; tea industry
• ISSN: 2185-159X; 2433-3700
• DOI: 10.32115/ijerd.8.1_190

Sri Lanka is well-known as one of the most successful cases of human development among South Asian countries, despite widening income disparities among sectors (urban, rural, estate), especially in the estate sector. Tea industry is an important industry in the estate sector, however, working and living conditions which affect the quality of life are generally worse than other. This resulted in a decrease in well-being of the workers’ capabilities. This study aims to identify the disparities in housing conditions among living four sectors in Sri Lanka and also residential areas in tea industry. Qualitative and quantitative methods are applied for analysis. To consider the well-being of people, capability approach is also applied. Data in the study relied on the secondary data conducted in 2008/2009, and 302 households’ primary data obtained between 2014 and 2015. Three indexes of housing facilities used in this paper are access to drinking water, exclusive toilet facilities, and electricity lighting. Results in comparison between housing conditions and living sectors indicate that people in estates are under the low quality of housing facilities and face the risks under the unsanitary conditions. Statistically, all three indexes showed there are disparities among living sectors. Comparing indexes among sectors, accessibility to safe drinking water in estate has wider disparity than the others two index. Exploring the tea industry based on the management style (RPC, Private estate, Farmer) deeply found private estates are more likely to face disadvantages than others. Accessibility to safe drinking water is lower than in others variables. Among residential areas access to safe drinking water is not statistically significant, but access to toilet facility and electricity is statistically significant at five percent level.