Category: Agriculture

June 14, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is expecting to have a vessel monitoring system operating within five months which will provide up to date weather information to fishermen and reduce loss of life, fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne said.But warnings will be disseminated through the ‘Sayura’ a fishermen’s radio channel and other media, Senaratne said. […]

June 11, 2013 (AFP) – The death toll in Sri Lanka from strong monsoon winds and heavy rains rose to 54, as the government announced on Tuesday new safety requirements for small fishing boats.The minister said small boats which usually go out to sea at night and return at dawn were not regulated and did […]

June 10, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has come second after Bangladesh for concentrations of cadmium in a listing of 12 countries where rice was tested for toxic metals, a media report said.Cadmium had been linked to a mysterious kidney disease of which the original are still not conclusively known (chronic kidney disease of unknown […]

June 10, 2013 (LBO) – Sunshine Holdings Plc, which has the second largest share in the branded tea market, will expand into the bottom-of-the-pyramid segment, with its new third brand, officials said.The firm now had a third of a 10 million kilo branded tea market.Sri Lanka’s total domestic tea consumption is estimated at around 26 […]

June 07, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will conduct a comprehensive marine fisheries stock assessment in 2013 for the first time in nearly four decades with Thai assistance, an official said. Fisheries minister Rajitha Seneratne said last month that fishing vessels from Japan to be run by Koyoshi Kimura, a sushi restaurant chain owner known […]

June 7, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Sunshine Holdings said it had sold a stake in its plantations unit to Pyramid Wilmar Plantations (Pvt) Ltd, for 910.3 million rupees. The sale cut its stake in Estate Management Services (Pvt) Ltd to 33.15 percent from 51 percent by the sale of 5.59 million shares, the firm […]

June 06, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Tea Smallholder Factories Ltd, a unit of John Keells Holdings, which produces tea from green leaf bought from independent growers said it had expanded suppliers during the past year. The company runs a network of eight factories. Last year it had increased suppliers by 2,714 to 11,532 direct […]

May 28, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Malwatte Valley Plantations Plc, a tea and rubber growing company said it was expanding commercial spice and fruit cultivation.. Chairman Willem Bogtstra told shareholders in an annual review that the firm is focusing on pepper, cardamoms, rambutan, avocado, mango and mandarin, using currently uncultivated land. “During the review […]

May 23, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Watawala Plantations Plc reported profits of 124 million rupees in the March 2013 quarter down 54 percent from a year earlier, as commodity prices eased, with palm oil continuing to perform well.The firm reported earnings of 53 cents per share for the quarter, in accounts filed with the […]

KANDANA, Sri Lanka,(AFP) – A hot cup of Ceylon tea is better known as being soothing and relaxing, but Sri Lanka is now marketing its most profitable export as a luxury boost for the libido.The tea industry is increasingly plugging Ceylon’s supposed aphrodisiac qualities in a bid to radically change perceptions of the brew, which […]

May 15, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is embarking on an aquaculture drive with technical support from Vietnam starting with culturing sea cucumber, seaweed and lobster fattening and also help devise a master plan, officials said.A team from Vietnam’s Research Institute for Aquaculture Number 3 began working with Sri Lanka’s National Aquaculture Development Authority (NAQDA) […]

May 09, 2013 (LBO) – Poaching by Indian fishing vessels in Sri Lanka’s northern waters is now much reduced, fishermen in the island have been warned not to go into other territories, fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne said.“In the north fishermen are now much happier,” Senaratne told reporters in Colombo. “They had two problems. They earlier […]