ABSTRACT
Factories are not entirely lacking in the countryside. There are thousands of small rice mills, many at riverside villages to which rice is brought by sailing boats. In plantation areas it is generally convenient to do at least some of the preparation of the raw product before despatch to regional markets such as Singapore, Calcutta and Colombo. All the processes in the production of commercial tea are completed in air-conditioned factories on the plantations. Buyers in western markets need only blend the cured leaf from several sources. Rubber and oil-palm plantations have factories for initial stages of preparation. All these works are widely dispersed, generally away from main roads, and are therefore easily overlooked. In aggregate they employ a substantial number of workers.
