Courtesy Hiru News Employees of Lanka Sugar Private Limited are warning that the local sugar industry is facing a severe crisis and the threat of collapse due to the priority given to imported white sugar. They highlight the critical issue of an inadequate price and insufficient market share for locally produced sugar. Lanka Sugar Private […]

By Pamodi Waravita Courtesy The Morning A recent heated exchange between Trade Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe and an Irrigation Department official has raised questions regarding the safety of ancient tanks islandwide.  Sri Lanka’s ancient irrigation system, which is still functional, networks thousands of small tanks and larger reservoirs to collect rainwater for use during the dry […]

by Arundathie Abeysinghe Courtesy PIME AsiaNews Government action has so far not stabilised markets. Lower production is causing negative effects on inflation and the availability of products in stores. Some rice varieties have been unavailable for months. Signs of growth are visible only in rubber and some export crops. Colombo (AsiaNews) – Sri Lanka’s agricultural […]

By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror Colombo, March 19 (Daily Mirror) – Claiming that the expected paddy harvest this year had diminished by 5 million metric tonnes, Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe said yesterday the government may have to import rice again to meet the demand. […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board says that measures will be taken to swiftly provide insurance compensation to farmers in districts that have not yet received payments for crops damaged by the floods last November during the 2024/25 ‘Maha Season’. Accordingly, Rs. 202 million is expected to be credited to the back accounts […]

Ada Derana

Ada Derana

Courtesy Hiru News The government has officially announced the certified prices at which the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) will purchase paddy from farmers. The announcement was made at a special media briefing today (05) by Agriculture Minister K.D. Lal Kantha and Deputy Minister Namal Karunaratne. Accordingly, the revised procurement rates are:Nadu paddy at Rs. 120 […]

Ada Derana

by Jagath Kanaherarachchi Courtesy The Island Yoda Nidikumba Environmentalists have warned that low lands and abandoned paddy fields in the Western Province are under threat of being encroached upon by the invasive plant Yoda Nidikumba soon. The aggressive invasive plant known as the Giant Mimosa (Mimosa pigra) has been identified as a significant threat, with […]

Courtesy the Daily Mirror The Jathika Nidahas Peramuna (JNP) raised concerns over the failure on the part of the government to declare a minimum purchase price for paddy and asked whether it had not been done as a help for the millers who helped the ruling party during the elections.  JNP Farmers’ Wing leader Karunathilaka […]

Madyawediya

අජිත් සී හේරත් December 21, 2024 සංස්කාරක Comments Offon ස්වාභාවික නොවන ස්වාභාවික විපත්: ගංවතුරට හේතුව කෘත්‍රිම වැසි ඇති කිරීම ද? අජිත් සී හේරත් අජිත් සී හේරත් මෑත වසර කීපයක සිට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පළාත් ගණනාවක් අධික වර්ෂාපතනය හේතුවෙන් ජලයට යටවීම් පිළිබඳ වාර්තා නිතරම අසන්නට ලැබේ. පසුගිය දිනවල ඇද හැලුන දැඩි වර්ෂාපතනය හේතුවෙන් කොළඹ ගම්පහ සහ ගාල්ල ආදි දිස්ත්‍රික්කවල […]

By Dr. Sunil Jayantha Nawaratne Courtesy The Daily Mirror Sri Lanka’s recurring rice shortage during December and January has become a predictable yet pressing issue. This challenge is rooted in the country’s reliance on its two main paddy cultivation seasons, Maha and Yala, alongside structural inefficiencies in production, distribution, and storage systems. Understanding the statistical […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror There is an old Sinhala saying ‘when the farmer washes off the mud splattered on his body after working on the field, he is fit to be king’ (FILE PHOTO) Both China and the present Sri Lankan lawmakers cannot do away with socialist thinking; but Sri Lanka can learn from ‘socialist’ […]

by Neville Ladduwahetty Courtesy The Island One of the subjects President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is responsible for is agriculture. On the other hand, subjects such as food security and health that are related and dependent on agriculture come under the purview of Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya. Consequently, the production and distribution of agricultural products have […]

By Libby Hogan Courtesy ABC News abc.net.au/news/sri-lanka-tea-industry-at-crossroads/104331086 Link copiedShare article It’s 8am and there is sleeting rain — miserable conditions to be outside, let alone work in Sri Lanka’s tea fields. But for Sagunthla, a mother of two, it’s just another day. She wraps a plastic sheet over her head, ties a hessian sack on her […]

Source: Xinhua COLOMBO, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) — In August, the scorching midday sun bakes the land in the central region of Sri Lanka, and the once plentiful river in Galewela has shrunk into a few small shallow patches, with dozens of egrets wandering around in the puddles. However, not far away, clear water is flowing […]

Lankaweb Health This short video clip highlights the utmost importance of preserving the consumption of Coconut oil use in Sri Lanka as opposed to Palm oil, etc.  It benefits were so well explained and pioneered by Prof DP Atukorale’ who was my classmate and Medical School batch mate, many years ago.  Big Pharma and Corporate […]

By Nishel Fernando  Courtesy The Daily Mirror President Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday unveiled a blueprint to transform the country’s outdated plantation sector towards a modern and thriving agro-business by rolling out a slew of major reforms with an inside-out approach.  Key pillars of this strategy includes ending the colonial era ‘line-room’ culture which has bounded estate […]

Courtesy Hiru News The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the provision of interest-free loans to agribusiness entrepreneurs and farmers under the first phase of the Agriculture Modernization Program took place today (22) at the Presidential Secretariat. The MoUs were signed between the Bank of Ceylon, the Regional Development Bank who are the […]

Courtesy Adaderana The European Union (EU) is backing Sri Lanka’s initiative of the newly established Department of Cinnamon Development through the Export Agriculture in Sri Lanka project, the EU Delegation to Sri Lanka and Maldives said in a statement. The statement highlighted that the EU will bring in the expertise of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) […]

Courtesy Adaderana Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industries Mahinda Amaraweera, announced that a national week for the implementation of the Youth Agri-Entrepreneurship Village Program will be held from July 01st to 07th. He also stated that the government has decided to provide free MOP fertilizer for paddy cultivation to farmers for the next two seasons. […]

By Gunnar Rundgren, Courtesy  resilience.org   FOOD & WATER FEATURED June 13, 2024 In this last in my series of nitrogen articles, I turn to the question if we can do without synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. The Sri Lanka case – not an organic case You have probably heard the story about how Sri Lanka turned organic” […]

Courtesy The Hindustan Times Despite political shifts in Maldives towards a pro-China stance under Muizzu’s regime, India continues to provide essential commodities to its neighbours. The credibility of the Narendra Modi government’s neighbourhood first policy is evident as India is now planning to supply thousands of metric tons of onion to Sri Lanka after supplying vast […]

By Mohamed Aheeyar, Giriraj Amarnath and Niranga Alahacoon Courtesy IWMI The FRESH Initiative, in collaboration with the ClimBeR initiative, is providing Sri Lankan farmers with climate information and agronomic advisories straight to their mobile phones. In recent years, Sri Lanka has experienced the impacts of climate change with recurrent extreme droughts and intense rainfall events. Vegetable […]

Press Release: UN FAO 22/02/2024, Colombo – Forty countries from the Asia and Pacific region today agreed that transforming agrifood systems was imperative to providing food security for their children’s generation and beyond, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported today. The summation was delivered at today’s close of the 37th Session of […]

Courtesy Hiru News The Sri Lankan cabinet has granted approval for the cultivation of cannabis for export purposes, marking a significant move towards harnessing the economic potential of the plant. The cabinet paper, presented by Diana Gamage, Minister of State for Tourism, received favorable responses, with the minister expressing her satisfaction with the decision. The […]

by Arundathie Abeysinghe Courtesy PIME Asia News Corruption and labour shortages are among the causes, but the latest challenge comes from President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s budget proposal to increase VAT by 18 per cent. For some observers, the sector is on the verge of collapse. Colombo (AsiaNews) – Sri Lanka’s coconut industry is facing a major […]

Prime Minister’s Media Unit Egg incubators are distributed with the objective of strengthening the rural economy and empowering small-scale poultry farm owners. With the objective of strengthening the rural economy and empowering small-scale poultry farm owners, 100  egg incubators were distributed today (2023.12.08) under the patronage of Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at the Temple Trees.Acceding […]