Category: Agriculture

Jan 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea production was fell 9.0 percent to 289.77 million kilograms in 2009, despite a sharp recovery in output in the latter part of the year amid surging prices. In December tea output rose 29.5 percent to 25.1 million kilogram from a year earlier. Orthodox black tea, which is […]

Jan 20, 2010 (LBO) – Dairy farmers in eastern Sri Lanka will get technical help to improve milk production and also be linked to agri-business firms, in a program supported by the United States. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has signed a deal with Manmunai West Livestock Breeders Cooperative Society to increase the […]

Jan 06, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea exporters are pressing for liberalisation of tea imports for blending and re-export, saying it could help improve value-addition in the island and expand markets. Jayantha Keragala, chairman of the Tea Exporters Association, said exporters could increase earnings if more imports are allowed for blending and value-addition. Imports […]

Dec 30, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka™s Central Bank said it will slash lending rates for farmers with effect from January 1, 2010 barely a month ahead of crucial presidential elections. Total loans amounting to about 10 billion rupees are disbursed each year under this loan scheme. Under the Agro Livestock Development Loan Scheme the […]

Dec 28, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is readying a claim for intellectual property protection for different types of Ceylon tea under global ”Geographical Indicators’ rules that would help market the product, a senior official said.Sri Lanka Tea Board chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi said they are seeking recognition for GI indicators for seven tea growing districts […]

Dec 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea production this year will be lower than in 2008 because of drought and a strike but earnings should match last year’s as prices have been good, a senior official said. “Prices have been good – at least 10-12 percent more than last year.” Sri Lankan tea prices […]

Dec 23, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s top celco Dialog Telekom is offering a trading platform based on short message services (SMS) that can help farmers to sell their produce and create a forward market for agriculture produce, officials said. Phones that don’t have the unicode function will deliver SMS’s in ‘Singlish’, he said. Singlish […]

Dec 23, 2009 (LBO) – Tea export countries like Sri Lanka could see prices easing next year as better weather improves crops and reduces the global shortfall that drove prices higher in 2009, the Food and Agriculture Organisation has forecast.Tea prices reached a record high in 2009, but should ease next year as weather improves […]

Dec 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should set up a commodity futures exchange and introduce forward contracts to make farmers more efficient and earn more, a policy advocacy group has suggested.“We must use information communications technology to give farmers information on weather, prices, costs and procurement of inputs.” “The forward sale contract system should […]

Dec 17, 2009 (LBO) – China has overtaken Sri Lanka as the world’s second largest tea exporter, and the island is in danger of losing its position as a major export origin, the Sri Lanka Tea Board has warned.But China and Vietnam are understood to have maintained their usual black tea production and enjoyed the […]

Dec 16, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea factories are cutting energy costs under an initiative to make them more competitive in overseas markets given the island’s high cost of electricity, industry officials said.Furthermore, a lot of the machinery in tea factories is old and not energy efficient, officials said.Tea was the first sector selected […]

Dec 04, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea export earnings in October hit a record high and average auction prices this year were much higher than in the last two years, although shipments were down owing to production problems, brokers said. The year-to-date average price of tea was also higher at 3.14 dollars a kilo […]