Category: Agriculture

Aug 30, 2010 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government’s failure to crack down on theft in spice plantations is threatening the industry, a key foreign exchange earner and provider of employment, a senior official has warned. Christopher Fernando, chairman of the Spices and Allied Products Producers™ and Traders™ Association (SAPPTA), said theft of produce was […]

Aug 29, 2010 (LBO) – Nestle Lanka, a unit of Swiss based Nestle, has opened a milk chilling centre in the former war-zone of Kilinochchi in the north of Sri Lanka, to buy milk for hundreds of dairy farmer in the area, the food firm said in a statement. It will also distribute equipment and […]

Aug 25, 2010 (LBO) – A World Bank study has called on Sri Lanka to loosen controls on land ownership and use, saying restrictions tend to keep poor farmers poor. “Land-development ordinances that regulate the use and transfer of land keep a larger proportion of people dependent on agriculture,” the report said. “They also keep […]

Aug 19, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government is to spend 2. 5 billion rupees over the next three years to extend a programme to encourage rice cultivation and consumption and reduce wheat flour consumption, a spokesman said. Rambukkwelle said the government wants to support the agriculture sector which it sees as a key factor […]

Aug 18, 2010 (LBO) – Prices of Sri Lanka’s seasonal ‘Uva’ teas rose sharply at the latest auction with tight global supply and anticipated higher demand for the winter seen keeping the market firm, brokers said. While the better made teas from different elevations fetched highr prices at last week’s Colombo sale, poorer teas weakened […]

Aug 16, 2010 (LBO) – A top Sri Lankan tea exporters has warned that Ceylon tea was losing market share to international brands in key Middle Eastern markets to which shipments from the island have fallen. Ceylon Tea Services chairman Merrill J. Fernando said the tea industry needs a stable policy, direction and expertise if […]

WASHINGTON, August 9, 2010 (AFP) – Even modest rises in global temperatures will drive down rice production in Asia, the world’s biggest grower of the cereal grain that millions of poor people depend on as a staple food, a study published Monday warned. Researchers from the United States, the Philippines and the Rome-based Food and […]

Aug 10, 2010 (LBO) – Tea exports by Finlays Colombo have been slowed down by high prices in the first half of the financial year, a stock exchanging filing said. “In response, we shifted strategy towards including bulk storage of commodities requiring refrigeration, to off-set the drop in volumes in the storage of packaged products. […]

Aug 06, 2010 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government is to set up two processing plants to increase capacity as milk production grows to provide liquid milk with longer shelf life to consumers, an official said. Government spokesman media minister Keheliya Rambukkwelle said two ultra heat treated milk processing plants will be set up in […]

Aug 06, 2010 9LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Watawala Plantations’ June 2010 quarter net profit shot up 290 percent to 146 million rupees from a year ago, a stock exchange filing said. Watawala Marketing’s sales rose 14 percent to 313 million rupees in the June 2010 quarter from the year before as its main brands ˜Zesta™ […]

August 5, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is expected to earn a record 1.4 billion dollars from its tea exports this year thanks to a bumper crop, an official said Thursday. Tea, Sri Lanka’s biggest cash crop, earned 71.3 billion rupees (635 million dollars) in the first six months of 2010 compared with 58.2 billion […]

Aug 04, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Kelani Valley Plantations net profit for the June 2010 quarter fell 82 percent to seven million rupees from a year ago as costs shot up and tea prices fell, a stock exchange filing said. Sales of the firm which grows tea and rubber and is a subsidiary of […]