Category: Agriculture

Nov 25, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government wants to encourage rubber and coconut cultivation outside traditional areas of production, Plantations Industries Minister D M Jayaratne said.He said there was high demand for land to grow coconut in the east, after the end of the ethnic war made cultivation there commercially viable. The eastern […]

Nov 23, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea industry needs to work together more closely like New Zealand’s dairy industry which dominates a big share of the world’s dairy trade, an industry official said. Kumar Jayasuriya, chairman of James Finlay, Colombo, a big plantations company whose ultimate parent is Britain’s Swire group, said the industry […]

Nov 23, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Malwatte Valley Plantations said net profit for the September quarter fell six percent to 152 million rupees from a year ago with earnings from rubber up sharply but no provision made for a recent wage hike. Sales in the quarter rose 21 percent to 717 million rupees, according […]

Nov 19, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hayleys conglomerate said it plans to introduce machines for seeding and transplanting that will help paddy farmers reduce costs and improve yields.It said in a statement that the locally-built machines can halve the costs of sowing, provide up to 15 percent gain in yields and reduce harvesting costs. […]

Nov 19, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea production in October 2009 improved from that of the same month last year when the market had crashed but output in the 10-months is the lowest in 10 years, brokers said. “Conditions that prevailed in that year were far from normal,” the brokers said. “The fourth quarter […]

Nov 17, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Maskeliya Plantations said it slipped into the red in the September 2009 quarter after costs shot up following a wage hike wrested by estate labour unions. Maskeliya Plantations said half of the wage arrears is to be paid in October 2009 while 25 percent each is payable in […]

Nov 17, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Carson group said net profit for the September 2009 quarter almost doubled from a year ago mainly on strong contributions from its palm oil plantations in east Asia. The company said in a stock exchange filing that September 2009 quarter net profit shot up 93 percent to 609 […]

Nov 17, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Renuka Agri Foods, part of the Renuka group, said it plans to raise funds through a public offer to expand production and exports and repay debt.The firm, which exports branded coconut products, will issue 120 million shares at 2.25 rupees each to raise 270 million rupees. The shares […]

Nov 17, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to launch a programme that will use mobile phones to help dairy farmers, a government official said.Chitranganie Mubarak, Senior Programme Head – e-Society, of the Information Communications Technology Agency (ICTA), said the ‘e-Dairy project’ is part of the agency’s ‘e-Society programme’ to take the benefits of ICT […]

Nov 12, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s information technology agency aims to deploy more widely a web-based crop price tracker and use mobile phones to help farmers improve production and marketing, an official said. Chitranganie Mubarak, Senior Programme Head – e-Society, of the Information Communications Technology Agency (ICTA), said the project is part of the […]

Nov 10, 2009 (LBO) – A top Sri Lankan farming firm has called for easier access to land for commercial agriculture in the quest to transform subsistence farmers into viable agri-businesses. Samantha Ranatunga, chief executive of the listed Chemical Industries (Colombo), said improvements in the legal, regulatory and policy environment were needed to promote private […]

Nov 10, 2009 (LBO) – Coco Lanka, a Sri Lankan agri-business firm, said it is eyeing investment opportunities in the former northern and eastern war zones. The company said in a stock exchange filing that group net profit in the September 2009 quarter rose six percent to 66.5 million rupees from a year ago while […]