Toymakers struggle for their craft

Toymakers in the Panadura, Sri Lanka believe that their profession is slipping into extinction, especially with the high cost of raw materials, and the shift of industries towards plastic raw materials. Since ancient times, the region was famous for wood-based production. The villagers of Madupitiya, a village near Panadura, had been producing wooden toys for a long time, which formed an aura of talent in designing wooden toys for children, but nowadays their craft is suffering from great difficulties. The owners of the wooden shops attributed the reason for this to the dependence of local merchants on importing toys from foreign countries such as China, which are made of plastic materials, which explains the low cost of their production compared to the cost of toys made of wood. Wooden toy manufacturers say it is hard to compete with plastic toy producers, even though their products are environmentally friendly and do not contain lead or other toxins harmful to children. The animals and wooden figures in Sri Lanka are handcrafted by skilled craftsmen, based on sustainably sourced boron-treated rubberwood which is recognized in the international market as an eco-friendly wood.