Category: Agriculture

Feb 14, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s reservoirs including those planned or under construction may have to be re-designed with larger spill gates and canals to evacuate excess water following recent rare floods in quick succession this year, officials said. Sri Lanka’s Mahaweli river valley agency, which controls 12 large reservoirs says its network is […]

Feb 11, 2011 (LBO) – The boom in rubber prices, that helped prop up profits at Sri Lanka’s Kelani Valley Plantations, is unlikely to last, its chairman Mohan Pandithage has warned, according to a stock exchange filing. The company, the plantation subsidiary of Dipped Products, the rubber manufacturing arm of the Hayleys group, said December […]

Feb 03, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka earned a record 1. 37 billion US dollars in tea exports in 2010, exceeding that of Kenya, which exported more, owing to higher prices and more valued added shipments, brokers said. The island’s tea export earnings from exporting 314 million kilos were 16 percent more than in 2009. […]

Jan 31, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Watawala Plantations December 2010 quarter profit rose three percent to 189 million rupees from a year ago with group sales stagnant at 1. 7 billion rupees, a stock exchange filing said. Earnings per share for the company, a unit of India’s Tata Tea group, were 0. 80 rupees […]

Jan 27, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Bairaha Farms, a poultry breeder and processor said net profits for the December 2010 quarter rose 546 percent to 163 million rupees from a year earlier, with revenues growing 25 percent to 706 million rupees. The poultry industry is experiencing strong demand and high prices after a slump […]

Jan 25, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Horana Plantations, which grows tea and rubber said profits in the December 2010 quarter grew 80 percent to 135 million rupees, while revenues increased only 5.5 percent to 560 million rupees. The firms produces about 4.0 million kilos of tea a year and 1.6 million kilos of rubber. […]

January 22, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka, one of the world’s biggest producers of black tea, reported Saturday that output hit a record high in 2010, helped by good weather. The total crop for 2010 grew by 13. 1 percent to 329.4 million kilograms (72 4.7 million pounds) from 291.1 million kilograms a year earlier, […]

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 […]