Education
• University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
Ph.D Biotechnology, September1986 – April 1991
(Thesis titled: “Secondary product formation by immobilized Catharanthus roseus cells (1991)” – with special emphasis on bioreactor designs).
• University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka
B.Sc (Hons), August 1977 – September 1981,
Major: Chemistry, Class Obtained: Second (Upper Division)
Summary of experience related to tea
• Worked at Tea Research Institute (TRI) of Sri Lanka for 23 years, carrying out research, advisory and extension on all aspects related to tea processing, including energy as well as quality management. Was Director of TRI from 2004 – 2006.
• After leaving TRI, in 2006, worked for CIC Agribusinesses (Pvt) Ltd., as Director/ Techno Advisory – Tea and also as Chief Executive Officer, Sunhill Tea Factory (Pvt) Ltd., the latter processing mainly leaf from smallholders (farmers), till March 2014. During the first 3 years at CIC, visited almost all the tea factories in the island.
• Served as the Consultant for the pilot project on “Sustainability in the tea sector – UTZ certification for tea in Sri Lanka” and continuing the service to – date – there are more than 5 factories which had received UTZ certification.
• Apart from providing advisory services to the entire industry, CIC Tea Agribusinesses (Pvt) Ltd., had been managing a tea estate cum factory (Berubeula), processing bought leaf as well, again me playing the pivotal role.
• Was also serving as consultant for some of the reputed tea exporting companies in Sri Lanka, mainly advising them on blending and packing operations, including quality control measures.
• Overseas Consultancy: I carried out a consultancy for a tea exporting firm in Rwanda on Value addition and product diversification” – May 2014.
• Employment
• Assistant Lecturer in Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, October 1981 – September 1982.
• Research Assistant, Tea Research Institute (TRI) of Sri Lanka, Talawakelle, Sri Lanka, January 1983 – October 1993
• Head, Technology Division, Tea Research Institute (TRI) of Sri Lanka, Talawakelle, Sri Lanka October 1993- February1995
• Deputy Director Research (Technology), Tea Research Institute (TRI) of Sri Lanka, Talawakelle, Sri Lanka, August 1996 – August 2003
• Director, Tea Research Institute (TRI) of Sri Lanka, Aug 2003 – Aug 2006
• Director – CIC Tea Advisory Services (Pvt) Ltd., August 2006 – March 2014
• CEO, Sunhill Tea Factory (Pvt) Ltd., February 2010 – March 2014.
Research Contributions / Awards Received
• Received a Technical Cooperation Training Award from British Council (Overseas Development Administration Office), United Kingdom to pursue an M Phil degree at University of Sheffield from 1986 – 1988
• Member of the team responsible for developing a tea plucking shear (TRI Selective Tea Harvester),which won a Gold Medal at the International Inventors Forum, Geneva in 1999
• Received two merit increments from the Tea Research Board in appreciation of developing a computer model for selecting suitable rolling program in black tea processing in year 2001.
• Received Sri Lanka Energy Managers Association (SLEMA) Award for the group study on “Conservation of electrical energy in trough withering of tea” as the best energy related study in 2002. (Introduced speed controllers for withering fans, which resulted in a saving of nearly 40% of the electrical energy used in withering)
• Paper titled “A simple chemical method for the determination of optimum fermentation time in black tea manufacture” presented at the 5th Annual Congress of the Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture, held in November 1993 was adjudged the best presentation under Food Science and Technology session.
• Member of the team, which developed a computer model to estimate fertilizer requirement in tea fields in 2003.
• Based on my research output, the outturn of made teat to green leaf was brought down to 21.50% form 22.22% during latter part of 1990s, in Low country.
• I was also responsible for introducing a rapid method to determine moisture content in green leaf and withered leaf, using a domestic model microwave oven.
• Introduced a new single frame machine for grading flowery grades in leafy grade manufacture (2008)
• Invented a machine (Ziyad’s sifter) which could do the work of three machines in tea grading – Patent Pending (2010).
• Introduced a system of classification for Long Leaf Type tea grades by Sieve Analysis (this piece of work was commended by the ISO Technical Committee).
Presentations:
1. Presented a paper “Status Review of Energy Utilization by the Tea Industry in Sri Lanka” on behalf of W C A de Silva at the First International Workshop on Energy Perspective in Plantation Industry held in Coonoor, South India. (1993).
2. M T Ziyad Mohamed and P Sivapalan (1994). Chemical changes and factors effecting growth of moulds, yeast and bacteria during storage of black tea in relation to draft gulf standards 4200211/1412 Hijri – Paper submitted to GCC Standards Institute, Muscat, Oman.
3. M T Ziyad Mohamed (1995). “Problems and constraints faced by tea machinery manufacturers of Sri Lanka”. Proceedings of the Symposium on Engineering Technology for Agriculture, Agro-Industries & Agro-processing, held in Colombo on 30 November.
4. M T Ziyad Mohamed & S Veerasingham (1998). Computer Aided Tea Manufacture. Paper presented at the Scientific Sessions of the Computer Society of Sri Lanka.
5. Presented a paper “Inter-governmental cooperation in tea research” (authored by S D I E Gunawardena, M T Ziyad Mohamed and B Sivaram) at the inaugural meeting of the Association of Tea Producing countries held in Colombo on April 27-28, 1995
6. Presentations at the ISO Technical Committee on Tea (ISO/TC 34 /SC 8), meetings in years 2001 & 2003 (as the ISO Project Leader)- Work item ISO 11286 – Tea – Classification of grades by particle size analysis;
7. “Ceylon Tea: cleanest tea with least amount of pesticide residues” – International Tea Meeting in Hamburg, Germany in 2005
8. Presentations to Ministry of Health and Labout Welfare, Japan and about 6 major tea buyers in Japan in year 2006, under the title “Pesticide residues in Ceylon tea”.
9. “Market imposed requirements for export of tea and its implications on the tea industry in Sri Lanka”, at the International Tea Convention, Colombo, Sri Lanka 2007
10. “Product diversification in tea” at the 2nd International African Tea Convention –– held in Rwanda in August 2013
Publications – 43 (Lists available)
Professional Memberships
• Agricultural Engineering Society of Sri Lanka (AESSL)
• Member, Senior Scientists Forum, National Science and Technology Commission, Ministry of Science and Technology, Sri Lanka
