The impact of technology level and industry knowledge on the craftsmen’s involvement in traditional brassware industry in Kandy region

Abstract

The Micro & Small scale industries represent more than 90% of the total number of enterprises operating in Sri Lanka (Central Bank of Sri Lanka, 2017) and they significantly contribute towards the economic growth of the country, generating 52% of the GDP and making up 60% of formal employment (Department of Census and Statistics , 2017). Out of this, the small scale handicraft businesses are traditional in nature and are depending on inherited entrepreneurial skills of craftsmen. The majority of these small scale businesses employ rudimentary production processes that have a low production volume and their sales are basically confined to local market. For example, only USD 2 Mn exports were recorded for brass-based handicraft products in 2016 (Export Development Board, 2017).

There was an early study on the cultural resilience and survivability of rural livelihoods in Kandyan region over five major craft villages (Daskon, 2010) in which the majority of respondents were elderly people in the age between 55 to 80 with a vast experience in the industry over 35 years. Accordingly, the Kandyan craftsmen seems to be engaged in these industries merely to their own survival even under adverse economic conditions in the country resulting in increasing input costs, labor issues, and challenging market conditions. The research revealed that they do not plan either the succession of the industry or how they should make changes to their products to match market requirements in order to successfully compete with the substituted products in the market.

According to National Craft Council (2018) the industry engagement of young craftsmen who are in the age category of 18-35 has been gradually decreased over the past 05 years. This situation has been a serious threat for the sustainability of the Kandyan handicraft sector in terms of lack of involvement by young craftsmen. The lack of direct involvement of the youngsters and shortfall of the successful young craftsmen in this category has directly resulted in very low-level contribution to the local industry.