Sri Lanka expects bumper paddy harvest this year indicating recovery from drought hit years
The Agriculture Department of Sri Lanka has reportedly stated that it expected the country to produce 2.85 million tonnes of paddy (rough rice) in the current Maha major cultivation season, indicating a full recovery from two years of drought and almost reaching records set in 2015 and 2016.
The Department has revised up the 2018/2019 Maha area cultivated to 743,000 hectares in the current season based on December data out of a target of 828,455 hectares.
According to a local media report, in the 2017/2018 Maha season, the country’s paddy farmers had cultivated 643,000 hectares of paddy as the country gradually recovered from drought which saw the sown extend falling to just 543,000 hectares.
Meanwhile, about 42,000 hectares of rice paddies had been damaged due to floods in the North and the East.
However, the paddy forecast for 2019 has increased 18.8 percent from a year earlier.
The Agriculture Department has stated that after adjusting for seed paddy and wastage, 2.64 million tonnes of paddy will be available for milling, which will produce about 1.8 million metric tonnes of milled rice.
According to the Department, the rice may be enough for 9.19 months of consumption.
OSL take:
The expectation of a bumper rice harvest this year is an indication of a positive growth in Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector. Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector was badly affected by the long periods of drought that lasted for several years. However, the agriculture sector is now on the rebound. Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector is constantly in search of new technologies in cultivation and high yield seeds. Therefore, foreign agri-businesses could explore business/investment opportunities in the country.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/14022019/Z_3 |