Sri Lanka to commercially cultivate durian

Sri Lanka Ministry of Agriculture has taken steps to commercially cultivate popular fruit durian. Many people like this exotic fruit but some say they can't bear the smell.

Durian, Durio Zibethius Murray, is a expensive fruit in Sri Lanka which has demand in export market. However, Thailand, West Malaysia and Indonesia are considered the major Durian growing countries.

The fruit is believed to have aphrodisiac properties; contains a high amount of sulpher, hence causing a sharp smell. It is mainly grown in Kandy, Matale , Kalutara and Kegalle districts. Durian is mostly naturally grown and cultivated in home gardens.

The Ministry of Agriculture has taken steps to establish a Durian village in Minuwangoda Divisional Secretariat in Gampaha district. Durian will be grown in 30 acres there. The Ministry has introduced a developed variety of durian which bears fruit in a short span of time.

Nutritive Values of Durian (Source: Ministry of Agriculture)
(per 100g edible portion)

Energy	183.0 k cal
Protein	2.8 g
Fat	3.9 g
Carbohydrates	34.1 g
Calcium	10.0 mg
Phosphorus	50.0 mg
Iron	1.0 mg
Carotene	12.0 ug

Sweet pineapple; market place specially for the fruit in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Ministry of Economic Development has decided to establish a pineapple market in Gampaha district.

The Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa revealed this as he met the pineapple traders on Colombo - Kandy road.

On this road, pineapple shops spread in a two kilometer stretch from Balummahara junction towards Kandy. Many of these shops are to be removed from the present places with the highway development.

Gampaha is the major pineapple growing district of Sri Lanka where the cultivation is spread in 1,998 hectares. The second major cultivator of pineapple is Kurunegala district. Sri Lanka has cultivated pineapple in 5211 hectares.

In 2012, Sri Lanka exported 476 metric tons of pineapple worth of Rs. 193 million, the Minister said.

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Sri Lanka's fertilizer subsidy; Robbing Martin Ayiya to pay Bandayiya

(April 01, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Sri Lanka Minister of Agricultural Development Agrarian services Maithripala Sirisena said proudly addressing a pres briefing held in Mahaweli Center, Colombo that the government spends Rs. 65 billion annually for the fertilizer subsidy. This subsidy goes mainly to the rice industry.

The Minister said that the government bore a cost of Rs. 26,065 per an acre for fertilizer subsidy since 2005.

Eight paddy cultivation seasons have passed since the initiation of the fertilizer subsidy and the cost for the government for a farmer that owns two and half acres is Rs. 521,300, he said.

The cost for a farmer that owns three acres is Rs. 625,560 while the cost for a farmer that owns five acres in major farmer colonies is Rs. 1,042,600.

Sri Lanka provides a 50 kilo bag of fertilizer at a subsidized price of Rs. 350 for the farmers while the government purchases the same amount of fertilizer at a price well over twenty times the selling price.

Fertilizer subsidy fuels the vote machine of the ruling party in rural areas. However, most of these farmers are not real farmers. A good portion of the subsidy receivers of Sri Lanka are public servants who hire agricultural laborers to work in their cultivations while they manage them at the cost of the government via paid leave.

Sri Lanka's fertilizer subsidy is a specimen for bad concessions. The rice cultivation appears fully dependent on this subsidy and the subsidy needs to be sustained now for the survival of the paddy cultivation.

The whole country pays heavy taxes in the name of these farmers who have been over praised for their task. Criticizing the unproductive nature of subsidizing paddy cultivation in Sri Lanka has become a taboo subject.

However, most of the inputs of Sri Lanka’s rice industry are imports such as machinery, fuel, fertilizer, agro-chemicals and even the gunny sacks. There is no big difference between the garment industry and the paddy cultivation though most do not raise this issue.

Rice prices escalated sharply late last year and early this year. The government had to slash the import taxes for rice to stabilize the prices. Now the harvesting has commenced. Farmers lament about the low price of paddy purchasing prices in the market. They need the government to purchase their product at higher prices.

According to information revealed in Sri Lanka Parliament by the Minister Bandula Gunawardane in November 2008, the government imported 52,800,209 kilos of milk food accounting for 89.1 percent of local demand in 2005, but this amount had seen an increase up to 62,518,062 kilos last year. It was 90 percent of the local requirement.

The country had imported 57 percent of its potato requirement in 2008, and it had been a sharp rise against 33.9 percent imported in 2005. In 2006, the government had imported 37 percent of the country’s potato requirement and 52.6 percent in 2007.

Big onions had recorded an import growth of 71.9 percent in 2008 in terms of local requirement, against 60.4 percent in 2007, 61.9 percent in 2006 and 66.6 percent in 2006.

In contrast to attempts to boost local agriculture, Chillie imports had also registered an increase, as a percentage of the local requirement, from 72 percent in 2007 to 73 percent last year. In 2005, the country had imported only 67 percent of its Chillie requirement and 69 percent in 2006.

25,000 irrigation systems dilapidated despite rhetoric of Sri Lankan rulers regarding boost in agri sector

(January 17, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Twenty five thousand small sized irrigation systems of Sri Lanka are in dilapidated state, a study conducted by the Ministry of Irrigation  and Water Management has disclosed.

These irrigation systems include water reservoirs, bunds and canals etc. Most of them have been used by people for centuries.


Most of the dilapidated irrigation systems are under the management of the Provincial Councils. They are vital mainly for the cultivation of rice, the major staple food of Sri Lankans.

The nationalist government of Sri Lanka has launched a programme under the theme 'Let us grow and develop the country' to boost the production of food and to curb the imports. The President and the Ministers were seen in paddy fields for several minutes of photo shoots in the hyped propaganda. However the outcome of this programme is questionable as the import of essential food items escalated sharply while the programme is underway in full throttle.

In November 2008, the Minister of Trade, Commerce, Consumer Affairs and Cooperative Development Bandula Gunawardhana said to the parliament that Sri Lanka imported 90% of its milk powder needs while justifying the high import taxes stating they are for the upliftment of the local milk farmer.

The import of food items like potato, onion, chillie and sugar have increased rapidly under the present government, the Minister said. For instance, in 2005 Sri Lanka imported 89.6 of its sugar consumption. In 2008, the imports rose to 92.7%.

At the moment, Sri Lanka is facing a severe rice shortage and the prices in the markets are unbearable to most of the people in the low income groups.

However, Sri Lanka government boasts of providing fertilizer subsidy to the farmers, the only remarkable service rendered by the government levying high taxes from the people.

Sri Lanka's food imports up despite government rhetoric on self-sustenance

(November 12, Colombo - Lanka Polity)  Rhetoric of the Sri Lanka government to achieve self-sustenance through a a new green revolution named 'Let Us Cultivate and Develop the Country' is highly contrasted with some of the statistics revealed in the parliament last week.

According to information revealed in Sri Lanka Parliament by the Minister Bandula Gunawardane last week in response to a question by People's Liberation Front (JVP) MP for the Anuradhapura district Ranaveera Pathirana, the government imported 52,800,209 kilos of milk food accounting for 89.1 percent of local demand in 2005, but this amount had seen an increase up to 62,518,062 kilos last year.  It was 90 percent of the local requirement.

The country had imported 57 percent of its potato requirement in 2008, and it had been a sharp rise against 33.9 percent imported in 2005. In 2006, the government had imported 37 percent of the country’s potato requirement and 52.6 percent in 2007.

Big onions had recorded an import growth of 71.9 percent in 2008 in terms of local requirement, against 60.4 percent in 2007, 61.9 percent in 2006 and 66.6 percent in 2006.

In contrast to attempts to boost local agriculture, Chillie imports had also registered an increase, as a percentage of the local requirement, from 72 percent in 2007 to 73 percent last year. In 2005, the country had imported only 67 percent of its Chillie requirement and 69 percent in 2006.

However, the Trade Ministry information revealed that the sugar import had declined to 92.7 percent last year from 93.3 recorded the previous year.  The sugar import was 89.6 percent of the local needs in 2005, and 90.4 percent in 2006.

Asked for the reason for this situation, the Minister said the demand had risen locally leading to the increase in imports. He also put the 300,000 plus internally displaced persons from Tamil dominated Northern Province in account of this increase stating that their consumption was restricted earlier when they were in the clutches of the Tamil rebels.