Category: Agriculture

Jan 20, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is opening a rice flour factory with a loan from a state bank re-financed by the central bank, the monetary authority said. The central bank said the monetary “in association with several key stakeholders and two state banks, is currently promoting rice based industries in the country with […]

January 17, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka warned Monday that food prices could shoot up after devastating floods in the north and east of the country destroyed rice and vegetable crops. Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said vegetable prices had already been affected because of the impact on growing areas that were swamped by unusually […]

January 16, 2011 (AFP) – Unexploded mines planted during Sri Lanka’s Tamil separatist war may have shifted during recent floods, officials said Sunday, as residents started to return to their badly-damaged homes and farms. More than one million people were initially displaced in the flooding, with the east of the island worst affected by a […]

BATTICALOA, January 15, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils would normally celebrate their annual harvest festival Saturday, but instead they are struggling to survive the worst flooding in living memory. With a handful of rice and a couple of incense sticks, Sadairani Kumar is keen to mark the festival of Thaipongal, popular among the […]

Jan 06, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is lifting all import levies on high yielding milk cows and diary equipment to promote domestic production of milk and is also increasing the farm gate price of milk, a senior minister said. Information minister Keheliya Rambukwelle said the cabinet of ministers had approved the tax change following […]

Dec 31, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plantations are considering concessionary loans with interest subsidies from the government to improve replanting of tea, which has fallen behind targets, the Tea Board said. The plantations ministry wants to increase the re- plantation rate of regional plantations corporation estates to three percent a year from the current […]

Dec 28, 2010 (LBO) – Two fish canning plants are to be built in Sri Lanka next year to supply both the export and domestic markets, fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne said. Fish production has been increasing since the island’s 30-year ethnic war ended in May 2009. “By the end of next year, we aim to […]

Dec 28, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s coconut farmers, who are now perhaps getting the highest prices in the world due to agriculture protection, are to get tax payer support in the form of a fertilizer subsidy, the government has said. Earlier in the year Sri Lanka’s desiccated coconut producers proposed a periodically adjusted tax […]

Dec 27, 2010 (LBO) – Fish prices in Sri Lanka should come down when the weather improves and Catholic fishermen put out to sea with the end of Christmas celebrations, the fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne said. Increased sales by the state-owned Ceylon Fisheries Corporation had already brought fish prices down by about 22 percent on […]

Dec 23, 2010 (LBO) – Prices of Sri Lanka’s low grown teas, which make up 60 percent of production, rose at the last auction for the year this week with average prices also higher than last year, brokers said. “There was better demand at this week’s auction for low grown teas and prices gained selectively […]

Dec 22, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has registered a claim locally for intellectual property protection for Ceylon tea under global ‘Geographical Indicators’ rules that would help market its main export product, a senior official said. That allowed the country to market Ceylon tea worldwide as an environmentally friendly and ozone friendly product. The government […]

Dec 21, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea production fell in November 2010 from a year ago but crossed 300 million kilos for the year as it appeared headed for a new record annual crop, Tea Board data showed. Tea out put in November fell almost nine percent to 26. 7 million kilos from a […]