Category: Agriculture

Nov 23, 2011 (LBO) – A listed Sri Lankan sugar plantation that is among businesses taken over by government under a new expropriation law has said the seizure was illegal as it does not fall within the ambit of the new regulation. The statement said action by the officers of the state to enter the […]

Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – The state will give incentives to process rice for export, aquaculture in especially in former war torn areas in the east of the island, president Mahinda Rajapaksa said presenting a budget for 2012. Rajapaksa said funding for improved seed production and agriculture extension services for paddy will be increased. Rice […]

Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government is to take back 37,000 acres of unused land from regional plantations companies and distribute it to small farmers, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said. The lands to be re-distributed will be given small holder families for 30 years. The small farmers will also be given low cost […]

Nov 18, 2011 (LBO) – A seed bank to be set up in Sri Lanka will operate under common standards to be developed by countries in the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC). Information minister Keheliya Rambukwella said the cabinet of ministers had given approval for the seed bank to be established in Sri […]

Nov 12, 2011 (LBO) – Theft on spice plantations in Sri Lanka has become a major problem and amounts to ‘organised robbery’, Sarada de Silva, head of a Sri Lankan grouping representing the spice industry said. One plantation company which had nurtured a large extent of cinnamon, the island’s main spice, found their first crop […]

Nov 07, 2011 (LBO) – Profits at Tea Smallholder Factories Plc, a unit of Sri Lanka’s John Keells Holdings fell 68 percent to 8. 3 million rupees in the September 2011 quarter from a year earlier, amid falling revenues. Tea Smallholder Factories Ltd is 37.6 percent owned by John Keells Holdings, 24. 3 percent by […]

Nov 04, 2011 (LBO) – Savings made by Sri Lankan banks after tax cuts that government ordered be set aside for investments could be used to revive the ailing tea industry, a top exporter has suggested. Government support is needed in long-term financing and regulatory changes to “re-align” the traditional tea sector and help it […]

November 4, 2011 (AFP) – Government supporters in Sri Lanka have stormed and occupied a private sugar company earmarked for nationalisation under a controversial law, owners said on Friday. Sri Lanka has been trying to woo investors after defeating Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009 and declaring an end to nearly four decades of ethnic violence […]

Nov 04, 2011 (LBO) – Buying for the winter mainly by Russia helped prop up tea prices at the Colombo auctions this week although they are expected to come down once demand tapers off, brokers said. There was demand both for tea from estates as well as low grows teas made by smallholders. “With the […]

Oct 31, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Kelani Valley Plantations group said profits grew 116 percent to 77. 8 million rupees in the September 2011 quarter with revenues growing 55 percent to 1,510 million rupees, helped by rubber. In April, wages of plantation workers were raised by a nation-wide collective agreement. Tea is labour intensive […]

Oct 27, 2011 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan horticulture exporter said it has begun targeting a growing domestic market for cut flowers and horticulture. Hayleys Agriculture, a division of the listed Hayleys group, said it had begun appointing agents and distributors and can double production at its 18 hectare facility in the central hills of […]

Oct 27, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea production is expected to revive with the return of weather conditions conducive to growing tea with demand also improving at the Colombo auctions, brokers said. Brokers Asia Siyaka Commodities said low grown teas, which make up the bulk of the crop, “met with improved widespread demand” at […]