Category: Agriculture

Apr 28, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to get Indian aid to revive and expand a fish net factory in the northern Jaffna peninsula where fishing is a key economic activity under efforts to help fishermen resume their livelihood. The Northsea factory at Gurunagar was damaged during the island’s 30-year ethnic war which ended […]

Apr 27, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s commerce and industry ministry has allocated funds to register ‘Ceylon tea’ under the global geographical indicators (GI) trade regime that will better protect the island’s best known brand. Registration under the GI will prevent abuse of the Ceylon tea brand, government officials have said. The commerce and industry […]

Apr 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices were firm at this week’s auction with brokers saying Libya had resumed buying and global prices seen staying high this year owing to lower production and growing demand. Despite the large volume of teas from plantation company estates on offer and “somewhat lower” quality prices were […]

Apr 08, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices fell at this week’s Colombo auction as turmoil in the Middle East, one of the main importing regions, affected shipments and payments, brokers said. All three elevations, high, medium and low have seen increases of 27.0, 20.45 and 7.28 rupees over last year. Prices of low […]

Mar 30, 2011 (LBO) – India and Sri Lanka have agreed not to use force on fishermen who break the law regularly by poaching in each other’s waters after illegally crossing the maritime boundary. They also agreed that representative of each nation’s fishing community, whose illegal cross-border forays for poaching have become a diplomatic issue, […]

Mar 25, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan rubber prices have recovered after a temporary fall triggered by overseas demand and supply factors, and look set to stay strong on rising global tire demand, trade officials said. Natural rubber prices at the Colombo auctions hit record highs in February and then slumped sharply after increased supply […]

Mar 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka can increase its catch but within the framework of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) in which competing interests will have to make trade-offs, the head of the regional fisheries body said. Rondolph Payet, chairman of IOTC, said a proposal by the Seychelles on tuna quotas at the […]

Mar 19, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka, which has 53 varieties of banana, has got Indian expertise under a United Nations funded project to help farmers make money by using waste from banana plants, officials said. The UNDP supported pilot project will be launched in north-central Anuradhapura, southern Embilipitiya and northern Jaffna. The United Nations […]

Mar 18, 2011 (LBO) – Industrial countries should reduce their fleets in the Indian Ocean, enabling coastal states to increase their catch but depleting stocks should not be over-exploited, the head of a regional fish management body meeting in Sri Lanka said. Rondolph Payet, chairman of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, said their meeting in […]

Mar 15, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to send a team of officials to India for talks on ending poaching by Indian fishermen in the island’s northern waters, fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne said. “We hope to sign an agreement with India,” he told a news conference. “We are confident we can resolve this problem […]

Mar 16, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has prevented efforts to restrict her tuna quota in the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne said. Sri Lanka had revived its activity in the IOTC and was compliant with its rules and did not allow IUU (illegal, unreported, unregistered) fishing,” Senaratne said. Had the […]

Mar 11, 2011 (LBO) – Tea harvests from Sri Lanka’s main plantations areas have improved following a slump caused by bad weather which affected the first quarter ‘Western quality season’, brokers said. Unseasonal heavy rains had affected tea harvests especially on the western slopes of the island’s central hills which usually produce quality teas in […]